0
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SELECT
STATUTES A:^D DOCUMENTS
OF
ELIZABETH AND JAMES I
PROTHEEO
Bonbon
HENRY FROWDE
Oxford University Press Warehouse
Amen Corner, E.C.
(Hew ?)orft
Macmillan & Co., 66 Fifth Avenue
SELECT STATUTES
AND OTHER
CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS
ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE REIGNS OF
ELIZABETH AND JAMES I
EDITED BY
G. W. PROTHERO
FELLOW OF king's COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1894
Oxforb
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
I I I
to
I
»
PREFACE
This volume is intended to be a contribution towards
filling up the gap between the ' Select Charters ' edited by
S3 the Bishop of Oxford, and Mr S. R. Gardiner's ' Constitu-
tional Documents of the Puritan Revolution.' Of the
documents which it contains, a few of the most important,
such as the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity and the
Ij^ High Commission of 1559, are printed in full : the rest are
^ given in an abbreviated form. Of the latter it is hardly
'^ necessary to say that no alteration has been made in the
'^ texts, but owing to exigencies of space certain portions have
been omitted. Where the omitted passages possess any
yv importance, and the omission is not shown by the number-
^ ing of the paragi-aphs, it is indicated by dots. In the case
*^ of superfluities, such as are indicated by brackets in the
following phrases: — 'person [and persons],' 'all [and
eveiy],' 'prescribed [and appointed],' 'shall [and may] be
lawful [to and] for,' 'the same [or any of them],' 'bring
[or cause to be brought],' 'be it further enacted [by
the authority aforesaid],' 'provided [always and be it
enacted],' ' [any law statute or usage to the contrary not-
withstanding],' 'he [she and they],' and the like, I have not
thought it necessary to call attention to the omission. All
additions to, or substitutes for, the original text are enclosed
vi Preface.
in square brackets. When a date is given in a shortened
form it is similarly indicated. The spelling of the English
documents has been modernized throughout.
Documents which have not, so far as I am aware, been
printed before, are indicated in the Table of Contents by
an * ; those that have been partially printed, with an t ; while
such as have been printed before but ai'e now reprinted
directly from the MSS. are marked with a §.
The index is not intended to be an index nomimmi except
in a few imj^ortant cases, but I have taken pains by means
of a full analytical index reruni and a glossary to make the
collection as useful as I can.
Finally, I have to acknowledge, with much gratitude, the
help and encouragement ungrudgingly given me by the
Bishop of Oxford, the Bishop of Peterborough, Professor
Maitland, Mr S. K. Gardiner, and Mr Hubert Hall of the
Record Office ; but I need hardly add that these gentlemen
are in no way responsible for any mistakes which this book
may contain.
G. W. PROTHERO.
King's College, C'ambkidge,
January 21, 1894.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
Tlie Monarchy and the Nation • xvii
Church and State .......... xxx
Parliament ........... Ixi
Council, Ministry and Star-Chamber ...... xcviii
The Judicature .......... cvii
Army and Navy . ......... cxix
The Prerogative cxxii
DOCUMENTS.
I Eliz. cap.
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II.
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„
20.
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21.
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22.
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24.
5 Eliz.
cap.
I.
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5J
3-
„
J)
4-
„
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29.
8 Eliz.
cap.
4-
13 Eliz.
cap.
I.
J)
2.
12.
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
/. — Statutes.
Act of Supremacy .....
Act of Uniformity .....
Recognition of the Queen's title
For the restitution of First-Fruits, &c.
Act of treason ......
For customs on sweet wines, &c.
20. Tonnage and Poundage ....
Act of Subsidy .....
Ordinances for cathedrals, &c. .
Annexation of religious houses to the Crown
For the assurance of the Queen's power .
For the relief of the poor ....
For artificers, labourers, apprentices, &c.
Confirmation of a Clerical Subsidy .
To take away Benefit of Clergy (robbery)
Act of Treason .....
Against the bringing in of Bulls, &c.
For the reformation of Ministers
I
13
21
22
23
25
26
27
36
37
39
41
45
54
57
57
60
64
viii Contents.
PAGF,
14 Eliz. cap. 1. Against conspiracy to take the Queen's castles, &c. . 65
„ „ 2. Against conspiracy to enlarge prisoners . . .66
„ „ 5. For the punishment of vagabonds, and the relief of
the poor ........ 67
18 Eliz. cap. 3. For setting the poor on work, &c 72
„ „ 7. To take away Benefit of Clergy (rape and burglary) . 74
23 Eliz. cap. I. To retain the Queen's subjects in obedience . . 74
„ „ 2. Against seditious words and rumours . . -77
27 Eliz. cap. I. For the surety of the Queen's person . . .80
„ ,, 2. Against Jesuits, Seminary Priests, &c. . . -83
„ ,, 13. For the following of Hue and Cry . . . .86
28 & 29 Eliz. cap. 6. For the better execution of Stat. 23 Eliz. cap. i 88
35 Eliz. cap. I. To retain the Queen's subjects in obedience . 89
,, ,, 2. Against Popish Recusants .... 92
39 & 40 Eliz. cap. I. Against the decaj^ing of towns and houses of
husbandry ....... 93
„ ,, 2. For the maintenance of husbandry and tillage 95
,, „ 3. For the relief of the poor .... 96
„ ,, 4. For the punishment of rogues, vagabonds, &c. 100
,, ,, 5. For the erecting of hospitals or workhouses . 102
43 & 44 Eliz. cap. 2. For the relief of the poor .... 103
„ „ 13. For the better government of the northern
counties ....... 105
„ „ 18. Act of Subsidy (preamble) .... 106
//. — Parliamentary Proceedings.
I. General.
1. Petition of the Commons for the Queen's marriage and succession,
1563, with the Queen's answer . . . . . .107
2. Petition of Parliament touching Mary, Queen of Scots, 1586 . 109
3. Debate on Monopolies, and the Queen's message, 1 601 . .111
n. Privileges of Parliament.
1. Customary demand for privileges ....
2. Permanent committee for privileges ....
3. Freedom of speech :
(a) Debate on the Queen's marriage and succession, 1566
(b) Speech of the Lord Keeper, 1571
(c) Debate on Mr Strickland's inhibition, 1 57 1
(d) Message from the Queen, 1572 .
(e) Speech of Mr Went worth, 1576 .
(f) Speech of Sir W. Mildmay, 1576
(g) Speech of Mr Wentworth, 1587
(h) Message from the Queen, 1589 .
117
117
118
119
119
120
120
122
123
124
Contents. ix
PAGE
(i) Speech of the Lord Keeper, 1593 . . . . .124
(k) Message from the Queen, 1593 125
4. Freedom from arrest :
(a) House of Lords : Lord Cromwell's case, 1572 . . .126
(b) House of Commons :
(1) Martin's case, 1587 127
(2) Neale's case, 1593 127
(3) Fitzherbert's case, 1593 . . . . . .127
^c) Members' servants :
(i) House of Lords : Digges' case, 1584 . . . . 128
(2) House of Commons : Smalley's case, 1576 . . 128
5. Freedom from subpoena and from serving on juries :
(a) Cook's case, 1585 . . . . . . . .129
(b) Stepneth's case, 1585 .129
(c) Trade's case, 1597 ' .129
6. Eight of examining returns, and determining qualifications :
(a) Norfolk election, 1586 130
(b) Smyth's case (outlawry), 1559. • • • • • '^l^
(c) Lord Russell's case (peers' sons), 1576 .... 131
7. Right of punishment and expulsion of members :
Hall's case, 1581 131
8. Jurisdiction over persons not being members:
(a) Corporation of Westbury, 1571 ...... 132
(b) Williams' case, 1576 132
9. Privacy of Debate :
Clarke's case, 1571 I33
III. — Unparliamentary Taxation.
1. Distraint of Knighthood . -133
2. Loans :
(a) Circular letter to Lords-Lieutenant for a loan . . -134
(b) Privy Seal for a loan* 1 36
3. Benevolences :
(a) Benevolence of the clergy . . . . . . -137
(b) The Queen's acceptance of the benevolence . . . i38
/ V. — Judicature.
1. Trial of the Duke of Norfolk, 1572 138
2. Trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, 1586 :
(a) Commission for the trial . . . • • • .140
(b) Sentence on the Queen of Scots 142
3. Grant of office to a Judge, 1584* I43
X Contents.
PAGE
4. Justices of the Peace :
(a) The Commission before 1590 . . . . . .144
(b) The Commission after 1590 . . . . . -147
(c) Oath of a Justice of tlie Peace . . . . . .149
5. Writ for the Court of Castle Chamber in Ireland* . . . 150
V. — Military System,.
1. Commission of Lieutenancy* ....... 154
2. Commission of array* . . . . . . . . .156
3. Commission of muster* ........ 158
4. Circular letter for light horse . . . . . . .159
5. Letter to a Bishop for light horse* . . . . , .160
6. Writ for view of arms to be provided by the Clergy . . .161
7. Circular letter from the Archbishop for the view of arms . .161
8. Writ appointing an Admiral, 1599 ...... 163
VI. — Miscellaneous.
1. Oath of a Privy Councillor* . ....... 165
2. Duties of a Secretary of Statef ....... 166
3. Censorship of the Press:
(a) Star-Chamber ordinance, 1566 ...... 168
(b) Star-Chamber ordinance, I586f ...... 169
4. Commission for the emancipation of villains . . . . • 1/3
VII. — Extracts from Political Writers.
1. Staunford : Praerogativa Regis . . . . . . .174
2. William Camden :
(a) The Star-Chamber . . , . . . . -175
(b) Fifteenths and Tenths, and Subsidies 175
(c) Martial Law . . . . . . . . .176
3. Sir Thomas Smith :
(i) Classes of the people ........ 176
(2) Parliament and the Sovereign . . . . . .178
(3) Justices of the Peace 179
(4) Trial by Jury 180
(5) The Star-Chamber 180
4. William Lambard : The Star-Chamber i8i
5. Richard Crompton : The Star-Chamber 182
VIII. — Ecclesiastical.
I. Documents, &c.
1. The Queen's Proclamation, 155S 183
2. The Queen's Injunctions, 1559 ....... 184
3. Summons to Convocation, 1562 ....... 190
Contents.
XI
4. Puritan demands in Convocation, 1563
5. Parkers advertisements, 1565
6. Beginnings of Puritanism, 1568 (Camden)
7. Bull of excommunication, 1570
8. Puritan doctrines :
(a) Cartwright's propositions, 1570 .
(b) Chark's propositions, 1572 .
(c) Dering's propositions, 1573 •
(d) Sampson's propositions, 1574
9. Extracts from the Fii-st Admonition, 1571
10. The Canons of 1571 ....
11. Exercises :
(a) Regulations in the diocese of Peterborough, 1571
(b) Suppression of Exercises, 1574 •
(c) Grindal's Regulations, 1576
(d) The Queen's letter against Prophesyings, 1577
(e) Regulati(ms in the diocese of Chester, 1585
(f) Harrison on Prophesj'ings .
(g) Bacon on Prophesyings
12. The Queen's Proclamation against Nonconformists, i
13. The Queen's Message to Parliament, 1576 .
14. The Queen's Message to the Commons, 1581
15. Whitgift and the Nonconformists, 1583 (Camden)
16. Whitgift's Articles, 1583 .
17. Letter of Lord Burghley to Whitgift, 1584
18. Whitgift's reply to Lord Burghley, 1584
19. Petition of the House of Commons for ecclesiastical reform
20. Puritan- Petition to the Queen, 1585 .
21. The Queen's speecli in Parliament, 1585
22. The Canons of 1585 ....
23. Independent Doctrines
24. Martin Marprelate libels, 1588 (Camden)
25. Attacks on the High Commission, 1591 (Camden)
26. The Lambeth Articles, 1595
27. The Canons of 1597 ....
28. The Court of High Commission :
(a) First Commission, 1 559§
(b) The Commission of 1562* .
(c) The Commission of 1572* .
(d) The Commission of I576§ ,
(e) The Commission of 1601
(f) Ecclesiastical Commission for Wales, 1579*
Proceedings in connexion with the appointment of a
(i) The cong^ d'^lire .....
(2) Letter of recommendation ....
29
Bishop
15S4
PAGE
191
191
194
196
197
197
197
198
200
202
204
204
205
206
207
207
208
209
210
210
211
213
214
219
221
222
223
224
225
226
226
227
232
237
240
241
242
242
xii Contents.
PAGE
(3) Oath of allegiance taken by a Bishop elect* . . . 243
(4) Command to consecrate a Bishop . . . . -243
(5) Restitution of temporalities ...... 244
11. Extracts from Ecclesiastical Writers.
The Anglican and Presbyterian positions :
(i) Richard Hooker ........ 245
(2) Archbishop Bancroft ........ 247
REIGN OF JAMES I.
/. — Statutes.
I Jac. I. cap. I. Recognition of the King's title . . .250
,, ,, 2. For Commissioners to treat of the Union . 251
,, ,, 4. For the execution of Statutes against Jesuits,
&c. 252
„ „ 7. For the continuance of Stat. 39 Eliz. cap. 4
(rogues and vagabonds) .... 253
,, „ 8. To take away Benefit of Clergy (manslaughter) 254
,, ,, 13. For new executions in cases of privilege, &c. 254
„ ,, 25. For the continuance of certain Statutes
(marriage of clergy) . . . .255
3 & 4 Jac. I. cap. 4. For the discovery and repressing of Popish
Recusants ...... 256
,, ,, 5. To prevent dangers from Popish Recusants . 262
4 & 5 Jac. I. cap. I. For the abolition of hostility between England
and Scotland ...... 268
7 & 8 Jac. I. cap. i. For the better execution of justice in the north
parts ...... 270
„ „ 4. For the execution of laws against rogues,
vagabonds, &c. ..... 271
,, ,, 6. For administering the oath of allegiance, &c. 273
21 & 22 Jac. I. cap, 3. Concerning monopolies, &c. .... 275
„ „ 10. Repeal of part of Stat. 34 & 35 Hen. VIII
cap. 26 (Wales) ....
„ „ 28. Repeal of certain Statutes (sanctuary) .
,, ,, 33- Act of Subsidy
277
278
278
Contents.
xiu
II. — Parliamentary Proceedings.
I. General.
1. Proclamation concerning elections to Parliament, 1604*
2. The King's speech at the opening of Parliament, 1604
3. Articles of conference between the Houses, 1604
4. Apology of the House of Commons, 1604 .
--'5. The King's speech before Parliament, 1610
6. Memorial concerning the Great Contract, 1610
7. Petition of the House of Commons, May, 1610
8. Propositions touching Purveyance, 1610
9. Memorial concerning tenures, 1610
10. First petition of the House of Commons, Julj', 1610
11. Second jietition of the House of Commons, July, 1610
12. First petition of the House of Commons, Dec, 162 1
13. The King's letter to the House of Commons, 1621
14. Second petition of the House of Commons, Dec, 1621
15. The King's answer to the above petition, 1621
16. Protestation of the House of Commons, 1621
-17. The King's Proclamation on dissolving Parliament, 1622
18. First Address of both Houses to the King, March, 1624
19. Second Address of both Houses to the King, March, 1624
20. Address of both Houses to the King, April, 1624
II. Privileges and Judicature.
1. Privilege of freedom from arrest (Shirley's case, 1604) :
(a) Debates in the House of Commons, &c.
(b) Shirley's Act* ....
2. Right of examining returns :
(a) Buckinghamshire Election, 1604
(b) Cardigan and Shrewsbury, 1604 .
(c) Cambridge, 1 621
3. Right of expulsion (Sir R. Floyde, 1621)
4. Judicature of Parliament :
(a) Impeachment of Lord Bacon, 1621
(b) Floyde's case, 1621
PAGE
280
282
285
286
293
296
298
299
300
302
307
310
3"
312
313
314
317
318
319
320
324
325
331
3.33
333
334
337
///. — Unparliamentary Taxation.
Bates' case :
fa) Arguments of the Judges, 1606 . . . ,
(b) Mr Hakewill's argument, 1610 . . . .
(c) Mr Whitelocke's argument, 16 10
340
342
351
xiv Contents.
V. — Iliscellaneous.
1. The King's Coronation Oath*
2. Proclamation of the Union, 1604 .
3. Censorship of the Press :
1. Proclamation, 1622 ....
2. Proclamation, 1624
4. ^Military System :
1. Appointment of a Council of War, 1624
2. Impressment and Martial Law, 1621
3. Commission to execute Martial Law, 1624*
PAGE
2. Commission to levy impositions, 1608* ...... 353
3. Levy of a feudal aid, 1609, 1612 :
(a) Order to the Chancellor to issue commissions . . .355
(b) Appointment of commissioners to collect the aid . . . 356
(c) Appointment of commissioners to compound for the aid . 358
4. Circular Letters for a Benevolence, 1622 ..... 359
/ F. — Judicature.
1. Commission of Oyer and Terminer, 1607* ..... 361
2. Commission of Gaol-Delivery, 1607* ...... 363
3. Instructions for the President and Council of the North, 1603* . 363
4. Instructions for the President and Council of Wales, 1617 . . 378
5. Jurisdiction of the Admiralty, 1618 ...... 388
391
392
394
395
39*5
397
398
VI. — Extracts from Political Writers.
1. James I :
1. Prerogative and the Judges ....... 399
2. Prerogative and Parliament ....... 400
2. Sir Edward Coke :
1. The Star-Chamber 401
2. The High Commission ........ 404
3. Lord Bacon :
1. The Star-Chamber ........ 40S
2. The Judicature ......... 408
4. Sir "Walter Raleigh :
The Prerogative . ........ 409
5. Dr Cowell:
King, Parliament, Prerogative, Subsidy .... 409
6. John Selden :
Convocation, King, Prerogative . . . . . •411
Contents. xv
VII. — Ecclesiastical.
I. Documents.
PAGE
1. The Millenary Petition, 1603 413
2. The Hampton Court Conference, 1604 ...... 416
3. The King's Licence to Convocation, 1604* . . . . -417
4. A Proclamation enjoining conformity, 1604 ..... 420
5. Letters from Archbishop Whitgift and the Council toucliing Non-
conformists, 1604 . . . . . . . .421
6. Letter from the Lord Keeper for indulgence to Papists, 1622 . 422
7. The King's directions about preaching, 1622 .... 422
8. High Commission, 1611*; with additions made in 1613* and 1625 424
II. Extracts from Ecclesiastical Writers.
1. Archbishop Laud ......... 435
2. Dr Sibthorpe 437
3. Dr Maynwaring 43S
APPENDIX.
Stat. 5 Eliz. cap. iS. An Act declaring the authority of the Lord
Keeper, &c . . . . .441
Letter from the Privy Council to Archbishop Parker and Lord
Cobham, 1570 . 441
Udall's case : interpretation of Stat. 23 Eliz. cap. 2, 1590 . . 442
Bacon's speech on taxation by the Commons, 1593 .... 443
Proclamation of Martial Law, 1 595 ....... 443
The Ecclesiastical Canons of 1604 . . . . . . . 444
Judgment of Lord EUesmere in Calvin's case, 1608 .... 446
Jurisdiction of the House of Lords, 1624 ...... 446
Index and Glossary 447
CORRIGENDA.
Page 12 2, dele note. The speaker was Peter Wentworth.
„ 127, Neale's case : for 6 March read 6 April
„ 143, line 15 from foot,/or vada read vadia
,, 421, line \%,for Whitgift, read Bancroft
ADDENDUM.
Page" 160, Letter to a Bishop, &c. : this letter is, in the Calendar of
State Papers, conjecturally dated March, 1573.
INTRODUCTION
I.
General Survey : the Monarchy and the Nation.
The Tudor monarchy attained its zenith in the reign of
Queen EHzabeth. Henry VIII was more tyrannical than
his younger daughter, but it does not follow that he was
more firmly seated on the throne. Under him, the abuses
of arbitrary power were doubtless more flagrant, and the
direct influence of the royal will more obvious, while his
statutory powers were in some respects larger and his
financial resources, at least after the submission of the clergy
and the dissolution of the monasteries, more abundant.
But the Tudor monarchy, unlike most other despotisms,
did not depend on gold or force, on the possession of
vast estates, unHmited taxation or a standing army. It
rested on the willing support of the nation at large, a
support due to the deeply-rooted conviction that a strong
executive was necessary to the national unity, and that,
in the face of the dangers which threatened the country
both at home and abroad, the sovereign must be allowed
a free hand. It was this conviction, instinctively felt rather
than definitely realized, which enabled Henry VIII not
only to crush open rebellion but to punish the slightest
signs of opposition to his will, to regulate the consciences
of his subjects, and to extend the legal conception of treason
to limits hitherto unknown. It was this which rendered
b
xviii Introduction.
it possible for the ministers of Edward VI to impose
a Protestant regime upon a Eomanist majority, and allowed
Mary to enter upon a hateful marriage and to drag the
countiy into a disastrous war. It was this, finally, which
enabled Elizabeth to choose her own line in domestic and
foreign policy, to defer for thirty years the war with Spain,
and to resist, almost single-handed, the pressure for further
ecclesiastical change.
The Tudor monarchy was essentially a national monarchy.
It was i^opvilar "with the multitude, and it was actively
supported by the influential classes, the nobility, the gentry,
the lawyers, the merchants, who sat as members of parlia-
ment at Westminster, mustered the forces of the shire as
Lords-Lieutenant, or bore the burden of local government
as boi'ough-magistrates and Justices of the Peace. Had
these classes been recalcitrant, had they even been luke-
warm in their support, the crown would have been practi-
cally powerless. If proof of this were required, it would
be found in the fact that, while the Tudors, in spite of
countless difficulties, retained their ascendency for upwards
of a century, the Stewarts, who had in their hands all the
despotic agencies and twice the wealth of their predecessors,
lost it in one generation.
Now if this fundamental popularity may be predicated
of the Tudors in general, it belonged in an especial degree
to the last of the race. A strong monarchy was beneficial
in the days of Henry VIII, but it was indispensable in
those of Elizabeth. Heniy VII had prospered, chiefly be-
cause his marriage put an end to the evils of a disputed
succession. Had Elizabeth died before 1587, the disasters
of the fifteenth centuiy would inevitably have recurred.
The dangers of political disorder could not in the reign
of the childless queen be long absent from the minds of
thinking men. No previous reign, for a century and a half
before her accession, had been free from plot and rebellion,
and ten years after she came to the throne the outbreak of
the northern earls showed that baronial anarchy might
The Monarchy and the Nation. xix
yet again raise its head. During Elizabeth's reign, this
danger was immeasurably enhanced by religious differences.
If national unity and the maintenance of law and order
depended on the strength of the government in 1530, how
much more was this the case a generation later, when
Anglicans and Komanists nearly balanced each other, in
weight if not in numbers, and when the extreme Protestant
sects were introducing an element of discord unknown
before the Keformation ? The religious wars and massacres
in France and the Netherlands, the hostile leagues of
Germany, the religious animosities which distracted Scotland
and Ireland — all these were warnings which no one who
who was not a fanatic could disregard. Moreover, in the
time of Henry VIII, the Papacy was discouraged and dis-
organized : in that of Elizabeth it had not only rallied but ./
was beginning to recover its earlier position. How should
the Protestants of England hope to make head against the
returning tide except by submitting themselves, like an
army in the field, to the stern discipline of undivided
control ? What had they to expect if Mary of Scotland
should become, by the death of her cousin, not merely the
heir but the rightful claimant of the English crown ? It
is difficult to over-estimate the strength conferred upon a
sovereign by the consciousness that her life alone stands
between her subjects and anarchy.
To these considerations was added a new fear, the fear of
foreign invasion and conquest. For centuries this danger
had been unknown. English armies had repeatedly invaded
France, and the foreigner had been unable to retaliate except
by occasional raids upon our coasts. Now, for the first time
for many generations, England was exposed to great and
imminent danger from abroad. No power comparable with
the new monarchies of France and Spain had existed a
century before. Either of them, taken singly, was more
than a match for this country : had they combined their
forces, nothing could have saved English independence. In
the days of Elizabeth's father the chance of such a combina-
b 2
XX Introduction.
tion was hardly appreciable : in the days of Elizabeth it was
not merely a chance but a probability. And here again the
political danger was doubled by religious hostility. Spain
was actively propagandist ; France might become so at any
moment. England had already learnt to her cost, in the
preceding reign, what was meant by Spanish domination,
and what Spain had once obtained by marriage she was
only too likely to attempt by conquest. In the face of such
a danger as this, it is not to be wondered at if the repre-
sentatives of the nation voted without reluctance whatever
taxes were required, and abstained from criticisms or de-
mands which might have hampered some delicate combina-
tion or encouraged the enemy by the semblance of dis-
union.
It is needless to go beyond this to account for the ease
with which Elizabeth handled the difficult machine of
parliamentaiy government. Eoyal influence was, no doubt,
applied to guide parliamentary elections, and to deflect the
tide of debate from inconvenient channels ; but there is no
reason to suppose that tliis influence was excessive or un-
popular. The parliaments of Elizabeth were neither packed
nor servdle. They had a mind of their own, and could on
occasion show it. But they knew what the national interest
demanded, and in supporting the crown they acted in
accordance with that interest. This attitude was confirmed,
as time went on, by the successes of a long and prosperous
reign, by a growing confidence in the wisdom of the govern-
ment, and by that chivalrous form of loyalty which encircles
a woman on the throne. Elizabeth, on her side, fully
understood both the sources and the limitations of her
power, for, extensive as it was, it had its limitations. She
was aware of the value set upon her life, but she was not
misled by this knowledge into a false estimate of her
position. She knew that she could not sacrifice or endanger
the national interests without losing the goodwill of her
people, on which alone her liberty of action depended. Her
diff'erences with her parliaments were never serious, and
The Monarchy and the Nation. xxi
this can only partially be attributed to her concessions.
That she made some concessions cannot be denied, but the
occasions on which she yielded are as nothing compared
Vfiih. those on which she stood firm. On the whole it is
clear that she ruled autocratically over State and Church,
over ministers and parliaments, and she could only have
accomplished this by identifying her policy with the interests
of the nation. Though occasionally these might appear to
diverge, the conviction grew stronger year by year that,
in the main, they were one. Hence a personal affection
which Elizabeth was at pains to cultivate, by feminine arts
as well as by imperial policy, and which was none the less
genuine because it was often accompanied, according to the
fashion of the day, by extravagant flattery. The depth of
feeling which underlay this decorative exterior finds eloquent
expression in the preamble (p. io6) to the last grant of taxes
voted by parliament to the aged queen.
To sum up, the efficient causes which tended to strengthen
the Tudor monarchy were especially potent during the latter
half of the sixteenth century. If it is true that the Tudors
were strong because they were popular, we shall probably
be correct in saying that Elizabeth was stronger than any of
her predecessors. It seems likely that the very violence
which marked the reign of Henry VIII was, in this respect,
rather a sign of weakness than of strength. If Elizabeth's
yoke was lighter than that of her father, and her judgements
in general less sevei'e, it is because she could rely more
confidently on the unconstrained support of her people.
These amicable relations between sovereign and subject,
confirmed by the traditions of nearly half a century, were
not likely to disappear immediately upon the accession of a
new dynasty. In the history of the constitution no hard
line can be drawn between the reigns of the last Tudor and
the first Stewart. The claim of James I, based as it was on
no title save that of descent, illustrated, by the force of a
striking example, the general acceptance of the theory of
hereditary Divine Eight. Parliament hastened to recognize
xxii Introduction.
the claim (p. 250) and manifested towards the new king all
the signs of loyalty which it had shown towards his prede-
cessor. Even when repeated attacks upon their privileges
forced the Commons to remonstrate, the manifesto (p. 286)
in which they set forth their grievances is couched in a
tone of respectful apology of which Elizabeth herself could
scarcely have complained. Though incapable of inspiring
the devotion or attracting the admiration felt for his prede-
cessor, James was never positively unpopular. Too wise or
too timid to commit himself to distinctly illegal courses or
flagrant departures from precedent, he preserved for the
most part a fairly good understanding with his subjects.
The pompous loquacity with which he lectured the repre-
sentatives of the nation contrasts unfavourably with the cuii
and pointed utterances of Elizabeth, but does not appear to
have been offensive to contemporaries. It is true that the
notions of the prerogative set forth in his speeches and
writings transcend anything claimed by the Tudors, and had
to be largely reduced in practice, while the state-craft on
which he prided himself met with severe rebuffs both at
home and abroad. Nevertheless his intentions were good,
and, though he cannot be credited with much political in-
sight, he was capable of recognizing the impossible. On
some important questions, for instance those of religious
toleration and the union with Scotland, he merits the praise
— if praise it is — of being in advance of his time. It is to
his credit as a ruler that, when he discovered the unripeness
of public opinion, he refrained from pushing his policy to a
dangerous point. Although he parted from some of his
parliaments in anger, the irritation was not wide-spread, and
the last parliament of his reign — to which indeed he made
important concessions — was also probably the most contented.
In short, during the reign of James I the old system may
be said, on the whole, to have held its ground. It was
reserved for his son to make the irreparable breach.
But though this outward harmony was so long pre-
served, changes were taking place which year by year
The Monarchy and the Nation. xxiii
rendered it more insecure. The circumstances of the seven-
teenth century were very different from those of the
sixteenth. The traditions of aristocratic turbulence were
falling into so remote a past as to be practically forgotten.
Political power had to a large extent passed from the nobles
to the gentry and the mercantile classes. The succession
to the crown was no longer doubtful or dependent on
a single life. In England the adherents of Eome had
ceased to be formidable : they were a small and oppressed
minority. The danger of a conflict between Englishmen
of different religions had for the present passed away : the
Papists might plot, but they could hardly rebel. There
was no longer any serious danger of invasion from abroad.
The union with Scotland and the suppression of rebellious
chieftains in Ireland had deprived the foreigner of the
power to raise up enemies at our gates. France, tolerant
of dissent at home, was inclined, from clear reasons of
poHcy, to befriend Protestants abroad. Spain, while still
a great power, was no longer a source of terror, though
she remained an object of hatred, to Englishmen. The
ports of Holland, whence in the early days of Elizabeth
a hostile armament might at any moment have descended
on our coasts, were now in the hands of a people not yet
engaged in serious commercial rivalry with England, and
allied to this countiy by the bond of religious affinity.
In a word, the national independence, so long in danger,
was now secure. The chief motive for acquiescence in
autocracy had therefore disappeared. An absolute mon-
archy was no longer indisi)ensable, and the nation could
safely take its fate into its own hands.
Meanwhile, apart from these changes in external con-
ditions, the national development was making autocratic
government more difficult. It was the misfortune of the
Stewart kings that they inherited a system well enough
adapted to a previous age, but too inelastic for their own.
The very triumphs of the Tudors were fatal to their suc-
cessors. To begin with, they had raised up in the national
xxiv Introduction.
parliament a force which during their time was a willing
agent of the monarchy, but which might easily become
its rival. The importance of the sixteenth century in the
development of parliamentaiy institutions has generally
been under-rated. The influence exercised by parliament
over the affairs of the nation during that epoch is liable to
be obscured by the vigour of the monarchy, but was never-
theless, within its sphere, not only potent but inevitable.
It is true that the great statutes of the Eeformation, the
penal statutes, the poor laws and other great legislative
changes were initiated by the government, but this should
not blind us to the equally important truth, that in all
these proceedings the sovereign was forced to rely upon
the national council to give effect to his policy. A series
of precedents confirmed the control of parliament over
taxation, secured its right to accept and consequently to
reject legislative proposals, and established most of its
special privileges. Although the annual sessions, which
had been customary under the Lancastrian kings, had long
been given up, the additions to the statute-book were more
copious and not less weighty than in any previous age.
Parliament had, in fact, confirmed its position as an indis-
pensable element in the State. Without the training, the
prestige, and the sense of self-importance conferred upon
it by a century of Tudor legislation, it could never have
been styled by Pym the soul of the body politic.
In this powerful institution, fostered and developed by
the Tudors for their own ends, the House of Commons
came more and more to be the dominant factor. The
sovereigns of the sixteenth century had done their best to
elevate the gentry and the commercial classes as a counter-
poise to the nobility. It was these classes which profited
most by the dissolution of the monasteries and the practice
of enclosures, by the expansion of trade and the successful
war with Spain. They had good cause to support the
rulers under whom they had made this advance, but they
had no special reason to be grateful to the Stewarts. More-
The Monarchy and the Nation. xxv
over they had now for the first time become conscious of
their importance. They were learning to act in concert,
and discovering their ability to stand without external aid.
The great council of the nation, in which all that was most
prominent and energetic among them was concentrated,
was passing out of tutelage and approaching its majority.
It could no longer be handled as even Elizabeth had
handled it. The weapon which the Tudors had used with
such consummate dexterity was ready to turn in the hands
of their successors.
Nor were causes wanting to induce Parliament to take
up an independent attitude. The ecclesiastical policy of
the Tudors contained within it a germ of danger to the
monarchy. To rid themselves of the yoke of Rome, they
had tolerated or encouraged the spread of Protestant doc-
trines. The religious movement thus induced they had
used so far as served their purposes, not foreseeing that
it might become as dangerous to the crown as it had been
to the Papacy. The ecclesiastical system established by
Elizabeth was supported by a large body of her subjects
as a politic and acceptable mean between the extremes
of Rome and Geneva, but by others — and these formed
a rapidly increasing party — it was regarded as an obstacle
to truth, as an attempt to check the Reformation half-way.
In their view, the Anglican system contained so much that
was objectionable in ritual and government, if not in
doctrine, as to be little preferable to that of Rome. Hence
the vestiarian controversy, followed by attacks upon the
bishops, their courts and then- officials, and by the de-
velopment of Presbyterian and Independent opinions.
Elizabeth had some difficulty in stemming the tide, and
its force grew largely after her death. Against these attacks
the Church, alarmed for its existence, adopted severer
measures of repression, and drew upon itself political
hostility by exalting the prerogative behind which it hoped
to find shelter. The split grew daily wider, the non-con-
formist party more clamorous. The mal-contents obtained
XX vi Introduction.
a majority in the House of Commons, and took every
opportunity of pressing their demands upon the crown.
Thus the dawn of self-consciousness in Parliament and
the growing capacity for initiative coincided with the ap-
pearance of a potent reason for self-assertion.
The quarrel about ceremonies and church-government
was closely connected with the still more momentous
question of unparliamentaiy taxation. Sooner or later, no
doubt, this question would have come to the front, but
under other conditions it might long have slumbered. The
national wealth was growing fast, and so long as there was
no grave dispute between king and people, Parliament
was unlikely to grudge some additional revenue to the
crown. The method of collecting it by indirect taxation
was sanctioned by Tudor precedents, and was one for which
from a legal, as well as an economical point of view, much
was to be said. But should any dispute arise, the latitude
hitherto allowed to the crown was sure to be called in
question, for, apart from the impeachment of ministers —
an expedient which disuse had rendered well-nigh obsolete
— a refusal of supplies was the only lever by which pressure
could be brought to bear upon the government. It was
therefore a hea\y blow when, just as Parliament was be-
ginning to need this weapon, it was struck from its hands
by the action of the law-courts. If the law was what the
judges declared it to be, there was all the more reason for
Parliament to bestir itself. Once raised, the question of
indirect taxation could not be left unsettled, and the whole
force of religious feeling came into the field to support
the contention of the popular party. Unfortunately, this
very force, by combining religious and political demands,
rendered an agreement almost impossible.
The decision of the judges in Bates' case (p. 340) did not
affect indirect taxation alone, but raised far wider issues.
Feeling their legal position insecure, the judges were driven
to invent or to support a theory of the prerogative which
threatened to subordinate law and Parliament to the crown.
The Monarchy and the Nation. xxvii
and to destroy the ancient basis of harmonious co-operation.
The far-reaching consequences of this theory were soon
perceived, and pressed upon the notice of Parliament (p. 350).
Long before Hobbes had formulated his defence of abso-
lutism, the philosophical notion of indivisible sovereignty
emerged, if at first but dimly, into the field of practical
politics (p. 352), and was interpreted by lawyers and poli-
ticians in opposing senses. A question was in this way
raised which went to the roots of government and was
not settled till the Kevolution. Thus, during the early
years of James I's reign, the religious and political questions
became inextricably involved, and each, while it embittered
the conflict, hampered the settlement of the other.
At this juncture, events of first-rate importance took place
on the continent, which increased the difficulty, already very
great, of coming to an understanding. The fears and sus-
picions of all earnest Protestants were aggravated tenfold by
the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War. A coalition, not
indeed so dangerous to England as a league between France
and Spain would have been in the previous centur5^ but
equally dangerous to European Protestantism, sprang into
existence. With France in difficulties at home, an offensive
alliance between the two branches of the house of Habsburg
threatened to undo all the work of the Eeformation in Ger-
many. The German Protestants once subdued, and the
Emperor's authority re-established, an attack on Holland
and the northern powers must have followed. In the face
of such a risk, the neutrality of England appeared not only
irreligious but impolitic in the highest degree. And yet
the government, far from throwing itself energetically into
the conflict, wasted time in fruitless diplomacy, and even
entered upon negotiations for a matrimonial alliance with
the arch-enemy, Spain. The purport of these intrigues was
but dimly known, but enough leaked out to inspire the
greatest anxiety. The religious feelings aroused by these
events induced Parliament to take another step in ad-
vance.
xxviii Introduction.
The lever of financial control, already applied to enforce
ecclesiastical reform at home, was now employed to press
upon the government a definite policy abroad. Partly
through a natural reluctance to incur pecuniary responsi-
bility, partly from a sense of its own unfitness to deal with
the complexities of foreign affairs, Parliament had hitherto
abstained from interference in the relations of the state
with foreign powers. Along with the control of the military
and naval forces, the conduct of these relations was regarded
as within the special province of the crown. But the
dangers to which Protestantism was now exposed, coupled
no doubt with the prospect of commercial and colonial gain
at the expense of their ancient enemy, led the representatives
of the nation to depart once for all from this attitude of
reserve. They now demanded nothing less than a decisive
voice in the conduct of foreign affairs. The step thus taken
involved the House of Commons in the most serious quarrel
with the monarchy that had yet occurred. The ' fiery and
popular spirits ' (p. 310), who ventured to discuss matters of
state, religion and foreign policy, applied their privilege of
free speech to uses hitherto unknown, and refused to be
silenced at the bidding of the crown. When James tore
their protest from the journals of the House (p. 313), he
called in question the most essential liberties of Parliament
and threatened its very existence as a free assembly. Cir-
cumstances, however, were too strong for him, and the
failure of his foreign diplomacy compelled him to yield. The
control thus gained, if it was to become effective, involved
of necessity a voice in the application of public funds. The
negative right of refusing taxes was a very inadequate
method of giving a positive direction to foreign policy.
Hence the adoption of the system afterwards known as
appropriation of supply (p. 278). This momentous change
had hardly taken place when James I died. Its importance
was recognized by his son, but Charles, failing to perceive
that it was inevitable, set himself to recall his father's
concessions and to drive Parliament from the position it
The Monarchy and the Nation. xxix
had won. The effort proved fatal to him and to his
house.
Such then is the connexion between the Tudor and the
Stewart periods, and especially between the reigns of Eliza-
beth and James I. We shall hardly understand the Tudor
system if we confine our inspection to the days of its
splendour. It is only by studying its fate under the
Stewarts that we can fully grasp its chief peculiarity, the
essentially popular basis on which it stood. On the other
hand, the policy of the Stewarts will be unfairly estimated,
and the deeper reasons of their failure will be missed, unless
we examine their conduct by the light of Tudor history.
To the Tudor despotism the nation, as a whole, was a con-
senting party, because the sovereigns of that line protected
its higher interests and in the long run gave effect to its
wishes. It resisted and finally overthrew the despotism of
the Stuarts, not because it beHeved an autocratic system to
be intrinsically bad, but because under the new regime it
was misapplied. In any case the Tudor methods of govern-
ment must eventually have been relinquished, for the nation
had outgrown the tutelary stage. But great political changes
are rarely, if ever, demanded by large masses of men as
ends in themselves. Power is only coveted by a class or
a nation, as a means for securing its interests, be they
spiritual or material. Had the Stewarts been far-seeing
statesmen, the political change might have been long deferred,
and despotism might have been almost insensibly meta-
morphosed into constitutional monarchy. Unfortunately
the rulers were blind to the national development and its
inevitable results, while they were led by circumstances and
their personal predilections into a position of hostihty to
the national will. They can hardly be blamed for standing
on their rights, for so far as their main contention was
concerned. Law was in a manner on their side. Their
fault lay in abusing these rights, in supporting the abuse bj'-
straining the law and perverting custom, and in ignoring
the fact that rights, so abused and so defended, cannot be
XXX Introduction.
maintained. Thus, instead of leading a gradual and peaceful
evolution, they hurried on a violent collision, which, from
the very nature of their power as explained above, could
not but be fatal to them in the end.
11.
Church and State.
On a superficial view of constitutional affairs during the
reigns of Elizabeth and James I, we are at once struck by
the great political importance of religious and ecclesiastical
questions. A fuller examination only confirms this im-
pression. In England, as well as on the continent, religion
was the chief motive power of the age. If we would under-
stand the general progress of the nation, the development
of political ideas, the limitations placed upon public and
private liberty, the mutual attitude of crown and Parliament,
we must enquire somewhat minutely into the relations of
Church and State, the laws and institutions by which these
relations were governed and defined, and the opinions held
at different times by the different religious parties.
The ecclesiastical system as settled by Elizabeth and
maintained by James I was based upon the Acts of Su-
premacy and Uniformity (i Eliz. i and 2). All that followed,
for more than a century, was built on this foundation, for,
setting aside the revolutionary epoch of the Long Parlia-
ment and the Commonwealth, there was no departure from
the lines which Elizabeth had laid down until they were
modified by the Act of Toleration (1689).
The Act of Supremacy regards the ecclesiastical changes
of Henry VIII as effecting not so much a revolution as
a restoration. The statutes of the period 152 9- 1536 had
* restored ' to the crown ' the ancient jurisdictions ' which of
right belonged to it, and had relieved the nation from an
'usurped foreign authority' (§ i). The rights so recovered,
had been resigned by Mary. The Act of Supremacy there-
Church and State. xxxi
fore restores to the crown its twice-lost authority, and frees
the nation a second time from the ' bondage ' into which it
had fallen. It repeals the reactionary legislation of Maiy
and revives the anti-papal statutes of Henry VIII. It
sweeps away all foreign authority, spiritual and temporal,
and it vests in the crown for ever the supreme power over
the national church. But it is careful to draw the limits of
the power thus given. It does not restore the title of
' supreme head ' conferred upon Henry VIII, nor does it
revive those statutes (e. g. 32 Henry VIII. 26 ; 34 & 35
Henry VIII. i ) which may almost be said to have endowed
him with the authority of Pope and Council combined.
The supremacy vested in the crown is such as 'by any
spiritual or ecclesiastical power or authority hath heretofore
been or may lawfully be exercised.' The large and various
jDurposes for which it may be used are defined in § 8.
Further, while conferring upon the crown the right to
delegate its authority to commissioners, it limits their
control over religion, for it lays down (§ 20) that they shall
not have power to condemn as heresy anything not so
declared by scripture, general councils, or Act of Parliament
passed with the consent of Convocation. The supremacy is
declared by Elizabeth herself (p. 189) not to involve the
right of exercising strictly spiritual functions, and is ex-
plained as simply conferring ' the sovereignty over all
persons,' lay and clerical, born within her realm. It is
still more clearly defined by Art. 37 of the Thirty-Nine
Articles.
The authority of the sovereign thus recognized, precautions
are taken to render it secure. The Act imposes a declaratory
oath, known as the 'oath of supremacy' (§ 9), upon all
ecclesiastics and all persons holding office under the crown,
and it inflicts (§14) upon all who may persist in supporting
' the authority of any foreign prince or prelate ' penalties
culminating in forfeiture and death.
While thus throwing off the yoke of Eonie, Parliament
had no notion of introducing religious toleration. In this
xxxii Introduction.
respect it only shared the common opinion of the time. It
was not believed, in England or elsewhere, that freedom of
religion could be allowed without imperilling the unity of
the State and undermining political authority. The next
step therefore was to authorize a certain form of public
worship and to prohibit all others. The Act of Uniformity,
after repealing (§ i) the statute of Mary which cancelled the
second prayer-book of Edward VI, revives that book, with
certain modifications, and (§ 2) enjoins its use throughout
the kingdom. Any minister declining to use in his church
the form prescribed, or using any other, is to be severely
punished, and for his third offence to suffer deprivation and
imprisonment for life.
So far, the act only concerns the ministers of the Church,
but its provisions are not confined to the ministry. Heavy
penalties are threatened (§ 3) against any one ' depraving '
the book of common prayer or hindering its use, while a
general conformity is enforced by the infliction of a fine on
all who refuse to go to church. The duty of executing
these provisions is specially laid upon the bishops and their
subordinates (§§ 4, 6, 11), but is also entrusted to the judges
and other lay ofiicials (§§ 5, 10).
The scope of these two fundamental statutes was, then,
both political and religious, but their primary aim was
political. They were intended to abolish the imperium in
impcrio which the church had formerly enjoyed, and to
make the crown supreme within its own dominions. The
enemy against whom they were originally directed was
Eome, but Protestants ultimately felt their foi'ce almost as
much as Papists. The Anglican establishment eventually
stood between two fires : it had to face the Romanists on
one side, the Puritans on the other, and both parties, in
attacking the Church, came into collision with the ecclesi-
astical supremacy. But the forces with which these two
attacks were combated were essentially dissimilar. Parlia-
ment was eager to support the crown in its struggle with
Rome, and neither Elizabeth nor James I found any difficulty
The Ecclesiastical Supremacy. xxxiii
in persuading that body to pass acts of excessive severity
against Jesuits and popish recusants. The penalties and
disabilities imposed upon Komanists wei'e therefore, in the
main, the direct result of parliamentary legislation, and had
the statute-law been strictly executed, a Papist could hardly
have remained in the country.
But the crown could not place equal reliance on Parliament
in its struggle with Puritanism. As the principles of the
Eeformation gained ground, its more advanced and active
adherents naturally made their influence felt in the repre-
sentative assembly. Before long it became not only im-
possible to legislate agaiiist Puritanism, but diflficult to
prevent legislation in its favour. The attitude of Parliament
reflected the general feeling of the country. Justices of the
peace and other lay officials, while ready enough to persecute
a popish recusant, were disinclined to put forth the vigour of
the law, even where it could be applied, against Protestants,
whom, however misguided and contentious, they were
bound, on the whole, to regard as friends. Consequently
the campaign against the Protestant non-conformists was left
to be carried on by the bishops, the ecclesiastical courts, and
the clerical officials.
This double conflict is the central fact of the period under
review, but before we are in a position to trace its history,
we must con.sider, first, what powers were involved in the
ecclesiastical supremacy now recognized by statute as be-
longing to the crown ; secondly, what steps were taken to
give greater definiteness to the general regulations laid down
by the Act of Uniformity concerning the doctrine and
government of the Church ; and lastly, what special
machinery was created to carry these regulations into eff'ect.
(a) The Ecclesiastical Supremacy.
The ecclesiastical supremacy of the crown implied the
right of visitation and the correction of abuses, with a control
over ecclesiastical legislation and taxation Mdiich was to
c
xxxiv Introduction.
some extent shared with Parliament, and a control over
appointments to high offices in the Church and over the
church-courts which was not similarly limited.
The general right of Parliament to legislate for the Church,
subject, as in other departments of legislation, to the royal
assent, was no new matter. The right Avas repeatedly
exercised both before and during the Tudor period. With
regard to Church government, the jDowers of Parliament
were, after the Reformation, limited only by theories con-
cerning the relations of Church and State, but in the
definition of doctrine the Act of Supremacy itself recognized
a limitation, and (§ 20) expressly resei'ved the right of the
clergy to assent. This right was vipheld by Elizabeth on
more than one occasion, though probably only with a view
to the maintenance of her own influence. In 1572 she
even extended it so far as to prohibit the introduction of
ecclesiastical bills unless the sanction of the bishops had
been previously obtained ''p. 120). Apart from this statutory'
limitation, the power of Pai'liament to initiate ecclesiastical
legislation was closely restricted by the royal will. Elizabeth
regai'ded any unauthorized attempts in this direction as
invasions of the ecclesiastical supremacy, and on more than
one occasion, notably in 1593 (p. 125), nipped them in the
bud. She was not unwilling to receive petitions on the
subject, but plainly informed Parliament (pp. 209, 210) that
its interference, unless requested, was superfluous. This
policy was maintained by James to the best of his power.
Convocation, the legislative assembly of the Church, sat in
two divisions, in the provinces of Canterbury and York. It
met on receiving a summons from the crown, drawn up in
ancient form (p. 190), and its sittings were coincident with
those of Parliament. In accordance with the submission of
the clergy (1532) and the Act of 1534 (25 Hen. VIII. 19),
revived by the Act of Supremacy, its canons were only
valid on receiving the royal assent. This right of veto is
distinctly reserved in the royal licence to meet and confer
(p. 417). Even the subjects of discussion were indicated by
The Ecclesiastical Supremacy. xxxv
the crown (p. 4 1 9). Many of the canons passed by Convo-
cation in Elizabeth's reign were honest attempts to remedy
abuses in the Church : others aimed at the maintenance of
uniformity among ministers. Such are the canons of 157 1,
1585, and 1597 (pp. 200, 222, 226), but of these only the
last received the full sanction of the crown. So long as the
clergy confined their legislation to themselves, Parliament
does not appear to have made any effort to claim control, and
such a claim would probably have been disregarded in the
days of Elizabeth. But when, in 1604, Convocation drew uj)
a code of ecclesiastical law (p. 444) which received the royal
sanction, and which among other sweeping enactments,
placed under the ban of excommunication all persons,
whether lay or spiritual, who should question the orthodoxy
of the Prayer Book and the Thirty-nine Articles, it seemed
high time to interfere. In the session of 1606 a bill was
introduced to invalidate all canons affecting the life, liberty,
or property of laymen, which had not received the assent of
Parliament. The bill was, however, lost in the Upper
House, and Convocation remained legally subject to royal
authority alone. The temporal judges have, nevertheless,
always refused to recognize canons affecting laymen, unless
they have received parliamentary sanction.
The regular ecclesiastical revenue of the crown was de-
rived from the first-fruits and tenths, which had been trans-
ferred to it in 1534 (26 Hen. VIII. 3), and, having been
surrendered by Maiy, were restored to Elizabeth in 1559
(i Eliz. 4}. This revenue, consisting of the first year's
income on promotion to a benefice, and a tenth of the yearly
income of all benefices above a certain value, was calculated,
in the reign of James I, as amounting to about £15,000
a year. Extraordinaiy taxes, called subsidies, were voted
by Convocation when required. In making this grant.
Convocation followed the lead of Parliament (see below,
p. Ixxxii), that is, when the laity voted one or more subsidies,
the clergy usually (but not always) voted a similar number.
The tax varied from 4s. to 6s. in the pound, with remission
c 2
xxxvi Introduction.
on account of the annual tenth and a limit of income below
which no tax was exacted. The payments were usually-
spread over a term of years. The aix-hbishops and bishops,
or, if the see were vacant, the dean and chapter acted as
collectors in their own dioceses. The grant so made was
embodied in a separate statute (e. g. 5 Eliz. 29, p. 54) which
recognized parliamentary control over taxation and enabled
the crown to exercise legal compulsion in the collection of
the tax. Occasionally (e.g. in 1587, p. 137) Convocation
voted a benevolence in addition to the subsidy, which the
queen (p. 138) authorized the bishops and others to collect
in whatever way should be determined by themselves. On
some occasions, when a benevolence was demanded (e. g.
1622, pp. 359, 360), the bishops fixed the proportion to be
given, and wrote letters for its collection. For military
purposes the clerical contributions were fixed at the same
proportions as those usual in the case of the laity (see below,
§ VI, Army and Navy).
The control which the Pope had long exercised, in spite
of the Statutes of Pro visors, over ecclesiastical appointments,
was swept away by the Reformation. An Act of 1534
(25 Hen. VIII. 20) made the crown virtually supreme, by
establishing, or rather restoring, the system known as that of
the conge d'elire, Edward VI substituted (1 Ed. VI. 2) for
this process the direct appointment by letters patent, but
the Act of Supremacy ( § 2 ) revived the earlier method. Its
action is exemplified by the documents printed on pp. 242-
244. It resulted in the complete subordination of the
higher clergy to the crown, and strengthened the influence
which the monarchy naturally exeroised over the House of
Lords. It should be remembered that in the reign of
Elizabeth the spiritual peers nmnbered nearly a third of the
upper house.
The judicial subordination of the clergy depends, on the
one hand, on the degree of their subjection to the temporal
courts, and, on the other, on the control exercised by the
crown over the spiritual courts. The judicial immunities of
The Ecclesiastical Supremacy. xxxvii
the clerg}', limited by a statute of 1489 (4 Hen. VII. 13),
were further curtailed by several Acts of Henry VIII's reign.
During the period under review, benefit of clergy was taken
away from various classes of offenders, e.g. by the statutes
8 Eliz. 4, 18 Eliz. 7, and i Jac. I. 8, while many other
acts contained clauses prohibiting its use. But it remained
for two centuries longer a legal plea in cases not specially
excepted, and was not finally abolished till 1827. It may
be mentioned in this connexion that the privilege of
sanctuaiy, limited or regulated by several statutes passed
under Henry VIII, was done away with in 1624 (21 & 22
Jac. 1. 28).
The jurisdiction of the episcopal and other ordinary
ecclesiastical courts was reserved not only by the Act of
Uniformity (§§ 4, 11), but also by other statutes (e.g. 13 Eliz.
12. § 2). These courts took cognizance of temporal as well
as spiritual causes and offences, of matrimonial and testamen-
tary cases, of perjury and sacrilege, as well as heresy and
immorality. Their sanctions consisted of censure and
excommunication, the latter being followed by imprison-
ment at the hands of the temporal authorities and by civil
disabilities of a serious nature. In cases of heresy, the
condemnation of the chux'ch courts might entail the penalty
of death, a penalty occasionally inflicted during this period ;
but this and other corporal punishments could only be
executed by the aid of the temporal power. The writs
issued by the ecclesiastical courts did not run in the king's
name, for the statute of 1547 (i Ed. VI. 2), which enacted
that they should do so, was repealed by Mary and not re-
vived by Elizabeth '. But from these courts there lay an
appeal to a tribunal over which the Church had no control,
while their ordinary jurisdiction was, until 1641, to a certain
extent superseded, or at least concurrently exercised, by the
High Commission.
The supreme appellate jui'isdiction of the crown in eccle-
* An opinion given by the Judges in 1637 may be considered to
have settled this point.
xxxviii Introduction.
siastical matters was exercised through a court commonly
called the High Coui"t of Delegates. This tribunal was
originally established in 1534, under the statute 25 Hen.
VIII. 19, to take over the jurisdiction of which that Act
deprived the Court of Eome. It was abolished by Mary,
but revived by Elizabeth (i Eliz. i. § 2), and thenceforward
continued to act until, in 1833, its powers were transferred
to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It heard
appeals from the higher ecclesiastical courts, exclusive of the
High Commission, on application to the king in Chancery \
Its composition and its sittings were irregular, for its
members were only nominated for each occasion as it arose,
and although it dischax'ged useful functions during a period
of nearly three centuries, it did not possess much political or
constitutional significance.
(b) Definition of Doctrine and Uiiual.
The national religion and the rules for the conduct of
public worship were fixed in the Act of Uniformity, by
reference to an authoritative formula. But, to avoid dis-
putes, more exactitude in both respects was necessary, for
the Prayer-Book left not a few points uncertain. The further
definition of doctrine was accomplished in the Thirty-nine
Articles of Religion, based on those of Edward VI, but
promulgated with more attention to legality. They were
discussed and accepted by Convocation in 1562, but had to
wait nine years before they received parliamentary recogni-
tion. An Act of 1 57 1 (13 Eliz. 12) imposed subscription to
such of these articles as ' concern the confession of the true
Christian faith and the doctrine of the sacraments ' on all
ministers ordained according to any ritual other than that
sanctioned under Edward VI or Elizabeth, and on all clergy
before admission to a benefice with cure of souls. All can-
didates for holy orders were * to profess the doctrine '
embodied in these articles, and any beneficed clergyman
' Keport of tlie Ecclesiastical Courts Commission (18S3;, Part III.
Definition of Doctrine and Ritual. xxxix
teaching contrary doctrines might be deprived. The articles
so sanctioned have ever since been recognized as containing
'the true doctrine of the Church of England agreeable to
God's word.' The so-called Lambeth Articles, issued by
Whitgift and others in 1595 (p. 226), however interesting
as showing the tendency to Calvinism which at that time
prevailed even among the leading divines of the Church,
had no authority and produced no modification in the
national profession of belief.
With regard to public worship, the queen's proclamation
issued in 1558 (p. 183) merely laid down certain general
restrictive regulations. Fuller instructions touching rights
and ceremonies, j^reaching, vestments, and the duties of
ministers in general, were given in the Injunctions of 1559
(p. 184). This ordinance is of a somewhat heterogeneous
character, and contains among other things a grudging
recognition of the marriage of the clergy ; but clerical
marriages were not legalised by statute till 1604 (i Jac. I.
25). A few years after the appearance of the Injunctions,
Archbishop Parker issued his Advertisements (p. 191),
a series of supplementary orders intended to produce greater
uniformity in doctrine and ceremonial. Being set forth
with the sanction of the bishops who were on the High
Commission, they might claim to be based, if only in-
directly, on the royal authority. Their provisions, so far
at least as concerned the ordination of ministers and their
licence to discharge ecclesiastical functions, were rendered
more stringent by Whitgift, who issued his Articles (p. 211)
in 1583. Under this edict, every minister was obliged not only
to use the Prayer-Book and to subscribe to the Thirty-nine
Articles, but also to declare his belief that the whole of the
Prayer-Book and all the Articles, without exception, were
in accordance with the word of God. These regulations
made demands upon the Puritan conscience which exceeded
the limits fixed by the queen or by Parliament. Whitgift,
indeed, might have pleaded that they did not, in respect
to the Thirty-nine Articles, go beyond the canon of 1571
xl Introduction.
(p. 201) ; but if this canon, which is somewhat vaguely
worded, is to be taken as insisting on subscription to all the
Articles, it does not appear to have been strictly enforced
till Whitgift's day. The opposition provoked by the arch-
bishop's regulations and his uncompromising eiforts to en-
force their observance brought many troubles upon the
Church and ujion the countiy at large.
(c) The High Commission.
The special machinery created for the maintenance of the
ecclesiastical supremacy and of the doctrines and regulations
described above, consisted in the Court of High Commission,
or, as we ought rather to call it, the group of courts held
by virtue of royal commissions issued under the Act of
Supremacy. It is not too much to say that these courts
were among the most efficient causes of the quarrel between
the monarchy and the nation, which culminated in the
rebellion of 1642. The institution was not immediately
connected with thai rebellion, for it had been swept away
in the previous year, but it was one of the chief sources of
that hostility towards the Church which underlay the
whole quarrel, and made a reconciliation in 1642 im-
possible.
Henry VIII was empowered by statute (31 Hen. VIII. 14
and 32 Hen. VIII. 15) to nominate commissioners to enquire
into and punish heresy. Such commissions were actuallj^
issued by Edward VI and Mary, but the Court of High
Comnxission in its j^ermanent form dates from the first year
of the reign of Elizabeth. The queen and her successors
were empowered by the Act of Supremacy {§ 8) to nominate
commissioners who should exercise ecclesiastical juris-
diction under the crown, with power to correct and amend
all errors, abuses, and offences ' which by any manner of
si^iritual or ecclesiastical power may lawfully be corrected
or amended.' Elizabeth lost no time in availing herself of
these powers. In July, 1559, she issued a commission
The High Commission. xli
(p. 227) to Parker, Archbishop nominate of Canterbuiy,
Grindal, Bishop nominate of London, and seventeen others,
mostly laymen, authorizing them to act as a high eccle-
siastical court for the whole kingdom. Six commissioners
might act for the whole body, but seven persons were
named, of whom one must always be present. The first
duty of the commissioners was to maintain the Acts of
Supremacy and Uniformity, and wide general powers
were given them for this purpose. They were also to
punish disturbers of public worship and absentees from
church, to suppress vagrants and quarrelsome persons in
or near London, to reinstate ministers deprived of their
livings on account of religion or marriage, and to deal with
immorality and other ecclesiastical offences. They were
authorized to enquire into these matters with or without
the aid of a jury, or by any other means that might appear
expedient. They might compel attendance on mere sus-
picion, examine any one, whether accused or witness, on
oath, and punish offenders or contumacious persons by fine
or imprisonment. All the most important powers of the
court, including that of administering the oath 'ex officio,'
afterwards so fruitful a source of complaint, appear in this
first commission. The commissions that followed were
more or less closely modelled upon it.
Three years later, when the vacant sees had been filled
up, a new commission (p. 232) was issued, including two
more bishops, and raising the whole number of com-
missioners to twenty-seven. At the same time the minimum
number authorized to act was reduced to three, and this
minimum was hencefoi'ward retained. The powers of the
commissioners remained as before, with two additions.
A statute of 1559 (i Eliz. 22, p. 36) had empowered the
queen to make statutes for cathedral and collegiate churches
and schools. This power was now delegated (§ 15) to the
commissioners. They were also authorized (§ 16) to ad-
minister the oath of supremacy to all ecclesiastics, a special
quorum of bishops being named for this purpose. In 1572
xlii Introduction.
a third commission (p. 235) increased the number of the
commissioners to seventy, including eight bishops, and
introduced certain modifications of procedure, but added no
fresh powers.
More important alterations were made in the commission
of 1576 (p. 237), issued, on the death of Parker, to the new
archbishop, Gvindal, and seventy-two others. The power
to act as a sort of justice of the peace in or near London,
exercised under § 7 of the commission of 1559 and later
commissions, was now taken away. The power to rein-
state deprived ministers was dropped, probably as no longer
necessary. On the other hand, the commissioners were
now entrusted with the execution not only of the Acts of
Supremacy and Uniformity, but also of the Acts of 1563 and
1 57 1 (5 Eliz. I ; 13 EHz. 12). In accordance with these
acts, they were empowered (§ 16) to administer the oath of
supremacy to others besides ecclesiastics, and (§ 6) to de-
prive any beneficed clergy who should persist in maintain-
ing doctrines contrary to the Articles of Religion. Further,
they were authorized (§ 11) to enlist the aid of justices
of the peace and other officials in apprehending and bringing
before them any persons whose presence might be required ;
while to give greater force to their proceedings, they were
ordered (§ 18) to use a seal.
On the death of Grindal in 1583 a fifth commission was
issued. Unfortunately this commission was not enrolled
like the others, and no copies seem to be preserved, but it
is probable that it did not differ materially from that of
1 576. The last commission of Elizabeth's reign, that of 160 1
(p. 2 4o\ is almost identical with that issued to Grindal, and
Whitgift is unlikely to have surrendered in 1601 any powers
granted at his accession. This view is borne out by the
abstract given in Neal's History of the Puritans (i. 330). A
list of the commissioners of 1 583 is extant, from which it
appears that their numbers were reduced to forty-four,
a figure only slightly increased in 1601. It is true that
under Whitgift the commission was more active and effi-
The High Commission. xliii
cient than before, but this change was apparently due not
to any additional powers but to the energetic and uncom-
promising character of its new head \
The first two general commissions of James I's reign,
issued in 1605 and 1608, follow almost exactly the example
set in 1 60 1. Not so the commission of 1611, in which
some changes of considerable importance appear. In the
year 16 10 Parliament presented a petition (p. 302) in which,
among other gi'ievances, the Court of High Commission
was vigorously attacked. Complaints had already, it would
seem, reached James' ears, and he had shown himself not
averse from hearing them (p. 295), provided that extreme
measures were not attempted. Among the charges now
made against the court, the most important were that in
inflicting fine and imprisonment it exceeded its legal
powers, that for slight offences men were cited at great
inconvenience from remote parts of the country, that the
court could inflict both spiritual and temporal penalties,
that there was no appeal from its decisions, and that by
means of the oath ' ex officio ' it forced the accused to
convict himself. It was therefore craved that the powers
of the court might be reduced to more reasonable limits by
Act of Parliament. The king, in his answer to the petition
{Tarl. Hist., i. 1137), promised certain reforms, but the
changes actually introduced must have fallen far short of
parliamentary expectations.
The death of Bancroft in 161 1 gave, as usual, the oppor-
tunity for a new commission. The commission (p. 424)
issued to Archbishop Abbot and eight-nine others showed
little inclination on the part of the crown to accede to the
views expressed by Parliament. It is drawn on lines which
differ considerably from those of previous commissions, but
the difference is not in the direction of any curtailment of
powers. After setting forth the intention of the Act of
Supremacy that the commissions issued under it should be
^ Hallam {Const, Hist., i. 200), who follows Neal {Hist, of the Puritans,
i- 33°)) is not to be trusted lieie.
xliv Introduction.
modified from time to time, it proceeds to sum up in one
long clause (§ 3) the general powers to be exercised by the
commissioners, including several not expressly granted or
not so clearly stated before. Special mention is made of
the powers of the commissioners to examine accused persons
upon oath and to suppress ' unla^vful conventicles.' They
are to punish the celebration of the mass and similar
offences, as well as abuses in ecclesiastical judges or other
officers of the spiritual courts. They are further empowered
(§§ 5) 6, 19) to carry out the pro\asions of the Acts of 1585
and 1593 (27 Eliz. 2 ; 35 Eliz. 2) against popish priests
and recusants, to imprison (§11) persons who refuse to
answer upon oath, and (§ 18) to seize children sent over-seas
to be educated in Romanism, while in various other direc-
tions their authority is developed and expanded. On
the other hand, two limitations were introduced. No final
sentence was to be given without the assent of five or more
commissioners (§ 25), and a clause (§27) was added allow-
ing any person sentenced by the court to supplicate the
king for a commission of review. The provision for trial
by jury, which had not been put in practice for many years,
was omitted. On the whole the new commission, while
making some concessions, must be regarded as expressing
a deliberate rejection of the parliamentary demands.
On the model thus laid down the later commissions of
James' reign were moulded. That of 1 6 1 3 empowered the
commissioners (p. 428) to carry out the Star- Chamber de-
crees (pp. 168, 169) touching the censorship of the press,
and added three important clauses (pp- 431-433) authorizing
them to hear complaints by wives against their husbands,
and to assign a maintenance to the former at discretion,
thus confirming, in the teeth of a parliamentaiy remon-
strance (p. 305), a practice already established by the court.
Another commission, issued in 1620, follows exactly that of
1 6 13. James' last commission, issued in 1625, is identical
with the two immediately preceding, except in the addition
of a clause (p. 435) providing that, during the sessions of
The High Commission. xlv
Convocation, the commission should be executed by the
bishops in Convocation, and by them only. This clause, which
(when in working) deprived laymen of all share in the pro-
ceedings of the court and was therefore likely to be very
unpopular, was dropped in the commissions of Charles I,
but the advantage thus gained was balanced by the omission
of the clause providing for a commission of review. In
other respects Charles' commissions may be said to approach
more nearly than his father's to the Elizabethan model.
Although the commissions of Elizabeth described above
empowered the commissioners to act throughout all England,
it would seem that their jurisdiction was practically confined
to the province of Canterbury. There is evidence to show
that during at all events the greater part of the period
1 559-1 640 a northern commission was sitting at York,
Durham, Eipon, or elsewhere, and discharging functions
analogous to those discharged by the southern commission
at Lambeth, Fulham, Croydon, or Canterbury. The com-
missions issued to the Archbishop of York and his colleagues
are in some respects not quite so extensive as those issued
for the southern province — for instance, the power to make
statutes for cathedrals and schools is omitted — but, in respect
of the general powers, the York commissions are practically
identical with those of Canterbuiy. Similar commissions
were occasionally issued by Elizabeth to the Archbishop of
Armagh and others for the kingdom of Ireland ; Wales,
being included in the province of Canterbury, did not
generally require a separate commission. The Welsh com-
mission of 1579 (p. 241) is peculiar in form, and was
probably exceptional. During the reign of James I, Ireland
and Wales were expressly included in the Canterbury com-
missions, and separate commissions for those countries do
not, apparently, recur.
Another group of commissions consists of those issued
for various dioceses, as occasion required. These diocesan
commissions are not infrequent during the reign of Elizabeth
and the early years of James I, but they appear to have
xlvi Introduction.
ceased after the year 1606, and in 1610 the king promised
that they should not be renewed. While they lasted, they
discharged duties similar to those ordinarily discharged by
the provincial commissions, but their area of jurisdiction
was limited and their duration temporary.
The efficiency of the system thus established, and the
general results produced, dejiended mainly on the views and
characters of the archbishops and their episcopal colleagues,
on whom fell almost all the burden of carrying the com-
mission into effect. The institution does not appear to have
been disliked at first. So long as the chief danger to the
Church came from Kome, the energies of the commissioners
were mainly exerted in this direction, and they could be
active without becoming unpopular. From such records of
their proceedings as are extant, it may be gathered that
a large part of their work consisted in the correction of
immorality, neglect of duty and other abuses among the
clergy, while some attention was paid to flagrant cases of
vice among the laity. Activity in the former direction was
likely to meet wath general approval, while in the latter, if
resented by individuals, it could hardly be openly opposed.
But when the conflict between Anglicanism and Puritanism
became acute, and the commissioners began to apply their
large and somewhat indefinite powers to enforce religious
conformity, they met with increasing resistance. The oppo-
sition came not only from individuals, who refused to take
the oath ' ex officio ' and to submit to the minute exami-
nation which it entailed, but also from the law-courts,
which issued prohibitions against the further proceedings
of the commissioners or released their prisoners by means
of writs of ' Habeas Corpus ' (p. 407). The cases of Cawdrey
(a Puritan minister) in 1587, and of Ladd and Fuller (both
laymen) in 1607, may be mentioned as attracting universal
attention and provoking injurious comment throughout the
country. Even Lord Burghley told Whitgift that his
proceedings 'savoured of the Eoman Inquisition,' and the
archbishop's retort, that the methods of the Star- Chamber
The Penal Laws. xlvii
were no better, was but a poor defence. The great lawyer
Coke condemned the proceedings of the High Commission
on strictly legal grounds, and his arguments (p. 404) supplied
the Long Parliament with formal reasons for abolishing it
in 1 64 1. But the reasons stated in the act of abolition
were not those which moved the nation at large. The
institution was generally condemned, not so much because it
was illegal, as because it exercised a tyrannical control over
the freedom of religious belief and practice.
(d) The Penal Laivs and the Homanists.
The conflict with Kome, in its origin historically prior
to that of the conflict with Puritanism, is naturally the first
to be considered. The Act of Supremacy, while repudiating
in no doubtful language the Papal authority, was not,
either in the nature of its provisions or in regard to the
number of persons whom it dii'ectly affected, a sweeping or
tyrannical act. In the face of foreign complications and
domestic uncertainty, Elizabeth was obliged at first to proceed
with caution. She hesitated to challenge the Pope and the
King of Spain to mortal combat until she was sure of
national support, while they on their side were not without
hopes of a reconciliation. But within a few years of her
accession, the guarded and tentative attitude of the Queen
gave way to a more decided policy. Hence the Act of 1563
(5 Eliz. I, p. 39), by which the provisions of the Act of
Supremacy were extended and its penalties rendered more
stringent. Several classes of persons, including members of
the House of Commons, hitherto exempted, were now com-
pelled to take the oath of supremacy, and a second refusal
was to be punished as high treason. About the year 1569,
the conflict entered on a more acute stage. Mary, Queen of
Scots, was now in England, and the rebellion of the Northern
Earls, combined with the Eidolfi plot, brought to light the
dangers to which her presence gave rise. The issue of the
Bull (p. 195), in which Pius V excommunicated and deposed
xlviii Introduction.
the queen, justified strong measures of retaliation. In 1571
Parliament passed two Acts (13 Eliz. i and 2), the one con-
firming the queen's title and inflicting the penalty of high
treason on any one who should attempt to deprive her of it, the
other forbidding under similar penalties the introduction of
bulls from Eome or the absolution of any of the queen's
subjects from their due allegiance. The combined efi'ect of
the Papal bull and these statutes was to render the quarrel
irreconcilable. It was henceforward impossible for any
one to be at once a good Roman Catholic and a good subject.
Next year the trial (p. 138) and execution of the Duke of
Norfolk and the Earl of Northumberland showed that the
government intended to keep its word, and foreshadowed
the fate in store for their royal confederate. Norfolk had
hardly been dead two months when the massacre of
St Bartholomew filled the Protestant world with mingled
fury and terror. The Parliament of 1572 followed up the
blows dealt by its predecessors with two Acts (14 Eliz.
I and 2), extending the penalties of treason to any one who
should conspire to seize any of the queen's ships or fortresses,
or to set at liberty political prisoners — a provision clearly
aimed at Maiy and her accomplices. Open war was now
raging between the two religions in France and in the
Netherlands : the conflagration might at any time spread to
this country.
The vigilance of the government was more severely tried
than ever before, when, about the year 1579, the Jesuits
entered actively into the fray. Their machinations resulted
in the temporary predominance of the Eomanist and Marian
party in Scotland, and in the great rebellion of Desmond in
Ireland. The mission of Campian and Parsons to this
country was believed to be connected with a series of
plots, the object of which was to give practical eff"ect to the
Papal bull at the exj)ense of the queen's life. To meet this
new attack, Parliament adopted fresh measures of defence.
By an Act of 1581 (23 Eliz. i) the mere attempt to convert
any of the queen's subjects to Romanism was made a trea-
The Penal Laws. xlix
sonable oifence, the saying or hearing of mass was forbidden
under severe penalties, and a fine of £20 a month was
imposed on recusants. This statute was subsequently
amended by an Act of 1587 (28 & 29 Eliz. 6), which
enabled the crown, in default of the fine, to take two-thirds
of the property of the offender. By another Act of the year
1 58 1 (23 Eliz. 2), the utterance of seditious words was to be
punished by mutilation and fine, while any one publishing
a seditious book, prophesying the queen's death, or fore-
casting the name of her successor, was to suffer death as
a felon \ The murder of William the Silent in 1584, and
the discoveiy of Parry's plot in February, 1585, intensified
the feeling which had already found expression in the
national association for the protection of the queen. The
Parliament of 1585 legalised (27 Eliz. i) this association,
jn-ovided for a Council of Eegency in the case of the queen's
murder, and excluded from the succession any one in whose
interest the deed might be done. By another Act (27 Eliz. 2)
all Jesuits and seminary priests were banished from the
country on pain of death. The maintenance of any such
person was made felony, and any English subject then
being educated abroad at a Jesuit school, who should not
return and take the oath of supremacy within a specified
time, was to be held guilty of high treason.
It might have been expected that measures so sweeping
and penalties so tremendous as these would have rendered
the queen and the Keformation settlement secure. But
Babington's plot showed that so long as Mary lived, men
would be found ready to risk their own lives in the attempt
to destroy the heretic who barred the way to the succession
of the Papist queen and the dominance of Kome. The
queen's advisers were more than ever convinced that in
the death of Mary lay their only hope of safety, and yet
Mary's death meant open war with Spain. In the face
of so terrible a risk — a risk which Elizabeth ever since
1 For the interpretation put upon this Act, see Udall's trial (p. 442).
d
1 Introduction.
her accession had been scheming to avoid — it was no wonder
that she hesitated long. At length, however, she gave
way to the pressure of the Council, the Parliament (p. 109),
and the bulk of the nation, and Mary was tried and exe-
cuted under the Act of 1585 (p. 141). A year after her
execution came the great crisis of the reign. The Spanish
invasion was successfully withstood, but Parliament did
not relax its efforts. The danger from abroad had for the
present passed away, but the enemy within the land, though
greatly weakened, was still formidable. An Act of the
year 1593 completes the tale of Elizabeth's penal laws.
The first statute of the year (35 Eliz. i) was primarily
aimed against Protestant sectaries, but the second (35
Eliz. 2) was expressly directed against Popish recusants.
Such persons were henceforward forbidden to travel more
than five miles from their homes, and the poorer classes
of offenders were banished from the realm, while any one
suspected of being a Jesuit or seminary priest, and refusing
to answer to the charge, could be imprisoned till he would
submit to examination.
The gradually increasing severity of these laws seems to
show that during Elizabeth's lifetime the fears of the
Protestant majority grew with the diminishing numbers
of their opponents. Nor is there anything unreasonable
in this, for as the chances of a general rising dwindled,
the fanatical minority were driven into yet more desperate
courses, and were led to attempt by murder what they
could not hope to gain by open rebellion. The safety
of the country hung upon a single life, and any measures
tending to the prolongation of that life seemed justifiable.
But when by the execution of Mary the safety of the
Protestant succession was secured, when the defeat of the
Armada had relieved the country from the fear of Sj^anish
invasion, and still more when the crown had peacefully
descended to the Protestant heir, the continuance of such
severity may well have appeared unnecessary and therefore
impolitic. King James began his reign with a genuine
The Penal Laws. li
desire to relieve his Romanist subjects of at least some
portion of the intolerable oppression from which they
suffered. In his first speech to Parliament (p. 283) he
held out hopes of a compromise, and, so far as in him lay,
relaxed the severity of the laws. Parliament, it is true,
was by no means willing to see its legislative work undone
by the dispensing power, and passed an Act (i Jac. I. 4)
confirming the penal statutes of the previous reign. Still
the execution of the laws depended on the crown, and
toleration would probably have received unprecedented ex-
tension, had not the Gunpowder Plot rudely startled the
king from his attitude of tolerant composure and driven
the Parliament to take measures in some respects more
violent than any that had hitherto been adopted. The
laws of Elizabeth excluded the conscientious Romanist from
politics and the Universities, as well as froin the edu-
cational and legal professions ; they forbade the exercise
of his religion and banished his ministers from the realm.
The laws of James went further : they not only heightened
the penalties and multiplied the public disabilities under
which Popish recusants lay, but they interfered with the
relations of domestic and private life.
An Act of the year 1606 (3 & 4 Jac. I. 4) obliged the
popish recusant, under heavy penalties, not merely to
attend church, but to receive the sacrament yearly according
to the Anglican rite. It enabled the king to seize two-
thirds of the offender's lands, not only (as under the Act
of 1587) in default of the pecuniary fine, but whenever
he saw fit to do so. It imposed a new oath, more stringent
than that of Supremacy, known as the oath of allegiance,
and it rendered liable to the penalties of praemunire, that
is, to outlawry and forfeiture, any recusant who should
twice refuse this oath. It extended the punishment of
death for conversion to Romanism, already imposed on
the agent, to the convert himself. Another Act of the
same session (3 & 4 Jac. I. 5), intended to facilitate the
execution of these laws, oft'ered a large bribe to any who
d 2
Hi Introduction,
should disclose the names of recusants or other offenders.
It banished recusants from court, and, except under special
conditions, from the city of London. It debarred them
from the legal and medical professions, fi'om posts in the
army and the navy, and from the lower public offices. It
inflicted severe penalties on the Komanist wife of a Pro-
testant husband, and punished marriage, baptism, or burial
performed by other rites than those of the English church.
It handed over the inheritance of recusants educated abroad
to the Protestant next of kin. It deprived recusants of
their ecclesiastical patronage, it debarred them from acting
as trustees or guardians, it violated the veiy privacy of
their dwellings by authorizing the justices of the peace
to search them for Popish books and relics, and it took
away from them all arms beyond the minimum requisite
for self-defence. Finally, an Act of 1610 (7 & 8 Jac. I. 6\
extended the provisions of the Act of 1606. The oath of
allegiance was now made incumbent not only upon recu-
sants but upon all persons of whatsoever rank or description,
under the penalty of exclusion from places of trust and
from all the liberal professions, while the husband of a re-
cusant was subjected to the alternative of paying a heavy
fine or of seeing his wife torn from him and unprisoned
till she should conform.
However eager in the cause of persecution the govern-
ment might have been, the inherent difficulty of putting
into action a coercive and inquisitorial system of such
minuteness and universality would have rendered it prac-
tically impossible to carry out the law. No doubt these
merely physical obstacles had much to do with the slackness
of the administration, but its energies were benumbed by
moral reluctance, arising from various motives of foreign
and domestic policy, and from the personal disinclination
of the king. Hence a constant source of friction which
hampered the relations of crown and Parliament throughout
the reign. The fear of excessive lenity, amounting to
a practical suspension of the laws, called forth the strongest
The Church and the Puritans. liii
expression of opinion (p. 290) touching the limitation
of royal power which is to be found in that remarkable
document, the Apology of 1 604. The laxity of government
in this respect heads the list of religious grievances in the
petition of 16 10 (p. 300), and it is dwelt upon at length
in the first petition of 1621 (p. 307). The complications
of James' diplomacy in the latter year necessitated a policy
of toleration which roused all the old anxieties of Parlia-
ment, and the persistence of that body in its demands
(p. 311) led to an open breach with the king. That there
was good ground for Protestant fears is clear from the
instructions issued to the judges in 1622 (p. 422). Even
without so overt a declaration of indulgence as this, it
was obviously easy for the government to mitigate the
rigour of the law. Parliament might legislate as it pleased,
but petitions and remonstrances wei-e far from being ade-
quate to enforce strictness or hinder evasion, and the lot
of Eomanists was no doubt less intolerable than a mere
survey of the law would lead us to suppose. It is pro-
bable that the religious tests were seldom exacted and that
the disabilities were often forgotten in cases where the
oaths had been taken and political submission made.
Nevertheless, with all deductions, the penal code imposed
limitations upon the rights and liberties of the subject,
both public and private, which the deepest conviction of
danger to the State can hardly justify.
(e) T]ie Church, the Puritans, arid the sects.
The condition of the Protestant nonconformists, though
exposed to serious inconveniences, was a long way from
being so painful as that of the Eomanists. The penalties
and disabilities imposed upon the former were far less severe,
they were not being constantly increased by legislation, and
they were less dependent on circumstances beyond their own
control. The troubles of the English Eomanists were to
a great extent due to the action of the Pope, the Jesuits, and
iiv Introduction.
the King of Spain : tliose of the Puritans were lai-gely of
their own making, and were due to divergences of doctrine
or opinion less significant in themselves than those which
divided Romanists and Protestants. But here again we are
struck by the fusion of religious and political questions,
a fusion which does not appear so early as in the struggle
with Eome, but which, in the results which it eventually
produced, became even more important.
At the outset of Elizabeth's reign the Act of Supremacy
was welcomed by all Protestants alike, and the Prayer-Book
was regarded with favour as substituting a purer form of
worship for the breviary and the mass. But dissatisfaction
soon began to show itself among that advanced section of
Protestants which was most strongly imbued with foreign
ideas. As early as 1563, objections were raised to certain
ceremonial observances and restraints used in the Church,
which seemed to savour of popery, and a proposal to give
effect to these objections was rejected in the lower house of
Convocation by a bare majority of one (p. 191). Seldom has
a single vote been more important. Beaten in the assembly,
the malcontents took the law into their own hands, and in
their parochial ministrations omitted to observe the rubrics
or to use the forms of prayer which they disliked. To check
these irregularities, Parker and his colleagues issued the body
of directions known as the Advertisements (p. 191). The
attempt to enforce these rules led to the resignation of some
thirty per cent, of the London clergy and of many others
elsewhere. But the tide of Protestant fervour, naturally
running in the direction of violent antagonism to Rome, was
too strong for the bishops. The tenets of the Puritans, as
the reformers were now called (p. 195), spread far and wide.
The laity, unable to find contentment in the authorized
services of the Church, began to meet in ' conventicles ' of
their own, thus coming into collision with the spirit, if not
the letter, of the law.
Thus arose the 'vestiarian controversy,' a dispute which
raged apparently round outward symbols, but which really
The Church and the Puritans. Iv
turned on grave differences of opinion {p. 199). For some
ten years after Elizabeth's accession, this movement went on
within the bounds of the Church. There was little sign of
a tendency to schism, or of a desire to overthrow the exist-
ing ecclesiastical system. But about the year 1570, just
when the publication of the Papal bull rendered the conflict
with Kome irreconcilable, the dispute with the advanced
wing of Protestantism entered upon a new and more acute
stage. The principles of church-government advocated by
Calvin were not the necessary outcome of his religious teach-
ing, but the adoption of one half of the master's views natur-
ally led his disciples to support the other. Moreover it was
clear that the chief obstacle to the sj^read of Calvinistic doc-
trines in this country was the existence of a hierarchy hostile
to the school of Geneva. Thus respect for a great teacher
combined with the exigencies of the situation to foster
Presbyterian views, and led a large section of the Puritan
party to attack the bishops. The new doctrines were openly
preached by Cartwright and others (p. 196), at Cambridge
and elsewhere, and were urged in able but extravagant
pamphlets such as the two Admonitions to Parliament
(p. 198). About the same time great encouragement was
given to the Calvinists by the triumph of their organization
in Scotland, and the first Book of Discipline (pp. 247, 248),
in which that system had been set forth some ten years
earlier, was adopted by Cartwright as the manifesto of his
party. This was a step fraught with grave political conse-
quences, and brought Cartwright and his followers into
direct collision with the crown. The resistance of the
Puritans to the queen's Injunctions was an act of insubor-
dination which could hardly be passed over, but the anti-
episcopal doctrines of Presbyterianism involved an overt
attack on the ecclesiastical supremacy, while its democratic
tendencies threatened the stability of the State.
It is therefore not surprising that at this juncture the queen
interfered. She allowed an Act (13 Eliz. 12) to be passed
sanctioning the Thirty-nine Articles and empowering the
Ivi Introduction.
l)ishops to impose a recognition of them on all ministei-s.
She issued a proclamation (p. 208), straitly charging the
ecclesiastical authorities to enforce the provisions of the Act of
Uniformity. She endeavoured to suppress the ' exercises '
(p. 204), or assemblies for the purposes of religious discussion,
vi'hich had come into fashion in many dioceses. These meet-
ings (pp. 202-208), in which originally the clergy alone took
part, but to which the laity were subsequently admitted, first
as hearers only, afterwards as speakers, afforded excellent
opportunities for the spread of Puritanical and Presbj-terian
doctrines, and for calling attention to abuses in the Church.
That such abuses existed, there is only too much evidence to
prove. Complaints of a want of learning in the ministry, of
pluralities and non-residence, are frequent throughout the
period (pp. 215, 218, 301, 414). The regularity with which
they recur, in parliamentary and other petitions, seems to
show that the remedial measures of Convocation (pp. 200,
202, 222, 226), while recognizing these evils, met ^vith but
little success. Parliament attempted to legislate on the
subject, and the queen only evaded the pressure by promis-
ing (pp. 209, 210) to take the burden of reform upon her
own shoulders.
About the year 1583 came another change. It was the
year in which Whitgift succeeded to the archbishopric
(p. 211 ). This event nearly coincided with the first open
attempts to establish the Presbyterian organization in this
country, and with the appearance of Independency. During
the rule of Grindal, himself more than half a Puritan,
advanced doctrines had gained ground apace. The Pri^-y
Council and the House of Commons sympathized with and
encouraged the exercises (pp. 206, 218). The archbishop
gave them his sanction and regulated their proceedings
(p. 204). The queen ordered him to suppress them (p. 205),
but apparently her ordere were disregarded, and the arch-
bishop's reluctance to obey was one of the chief causes of his
suspension. Puritanism easily led to Presb5i:eriauism. In
the year 1582 a synod of Calvinistic ministers adopted the
TJie Churcli and the Puritans. Ivii
second and fuller Book of Discipline, published in 1578, and
set aVjout carrying its principles into practice. Scattered
presbyteries had for some time been in existence. These
were now, in various parts of the country, combined in the
wider organization called a 'classis' (p. 248). Had this
system been allowed to spread a little more widely, it would
have gone hard with the Church of England. About the
same time, doctrines even more subversive of the Church,
and the ecclesiastical supremacy began to be promulgated,
by Browne, Barrow and others, whose disciples, aftei-wards
known as Independents, were at first called after the names
of their leaders. If the establishment of presbyteries, classes,
and synods threatened the episcopalian system, the theory
that every congregation of Christian men formed a separate
church and should be free to govern itself as it pleased
(p. 223), left no place at all for the bishops or for the exercise
of royal authority in matters ecclesiastical.
In selecting Whitgift as Grindal's successor, the queen
had chosen a man of undaunted courage and rigid orthodoxy.
If the nonconformists were to be suppressed, she could
hardly have found an instrument better suited to her pui-pose.
But, though he was strongly supported by the queen, and
was a member of the Privy Coimcil, the task before him was
no easy one. The articles (p. 211) issued immediately after
his succession, insisting on subscription to the Prayer-Book
and all the Thirty-nine Articles, were regarded by many
as going Vjeyond the law. The questions which he drew up.
in order to prevent evasion and discover the least deviation
from orthodoxy, were condemned even by Burghley (p. 213).
The House of Commons took up the cause of the deprived
ministers, and, while calling attention to abuses in the
Church, recommended greater leniency in dealing with the
Puritan clergy. The severity of the bishops and the High
Commissioners, and the insolence of minor officials, gave
occasion to call in question the legality of their proceedings,
the use of excommunication, and the oath ' ex officio ' (pp.
2 1 5-2 1 8). The house even went so far as to advocate a plau
Iviii Introduction.
under which the authority of the bishops in ordination
should not be exercised without the co-operation of a certain
number of the inferior clergy (p. 2 1 6). The Presbyterian
tendency of this recommendation appears more plainly in
a petition presented about the same time to the queen
(p. 219). This petition, which openly proposed to substitute
the authority of synods or diocesan associates for that of the
bishops, went further than the Commons were at that time
inclined to go, but it can hardly be doubted that, if the
measures advocated by the lower house had been supported
by the Lords, the episcopal system might have been pro-
foundly modified. The Privy Council was itself divided.
Some of its members, like Knollys and Mildmay, were
Puritans by conviction ; others, like Leicester, appear to
have advocated a new reformation with a view to further
plunder. The queen, however, stood firm. The supremacy
over the Church was her own and she refused to share it
(p. 222). In all her long and tiying reign, she probably
never showed a cooler courage and more masculine self-
reliance than in this crisis, when, hemmed in by dangers at
home and abroad, with a war for veiy existence in prospect,
and threatened with daily plots against her life, she resisted,
almost unaided, the pressure of Parliament and council,
backed by a growing party in the State, and defended the
Church from a second revolution.
During the last years of Elizabeth's reign there were some
signs of reaction. The attacks on the bishops continued, and
even became more violent, culminating in the Marprelate
libels (p. 225) about the year 1588, But the virulence of
the sectaries overshot the mark. The danger of disunion
in the face of foreign invasion forced itself upon thinking
men. Parliament, though still anxious for ecclesiastical
legislation, and with difficulty restrained by the personal
influence of the queen (pp. 120, 125, 126), emphatically dis-
sockted itself from the schismatics in the Act of 1593
(35 Eliz. i). This Act, expressly aimed at ' seditious sectaries
and disloyal persons ' (§ i ), punished ^Wth banishment and
The Church and the Puritans. lix
even death (§ 2) the frequenters of conventicles and other
assailants of the ecclesiastical supremacy. It seems to have
been successful for the time. Many sectaries fled the
country ; a few suffered death ; and for the rest of the
reign the Church was, comparatively speaking, left in peace.
It is possible that this lull was partially due to the influence
of Hooker, the first four books of whose great work appeared
in 1594 (p. 245). It is difficult to believe that no effect was
J) reduced by his learned and judicious advocacy of the
Anglican system, and still more by his elevated and
impersonal tone of controversy, so far superior to that of
the majority, at least, of his contemporaries.
On the accession of James I the conflict broke out anew.
The hopes which the Puritans had nourished were doomed
to disappointment. What these hopes were may be gathered
from the Millenary Petition (p. 413). This petition, it
should be remembered, did not emanate from the Pres-
byterians, the Independents, or any of the more schismatical
sects. It was signed by persons who repudiated all sympathy
with factious and schismatical parties and were anxious
to remain members of the Church of England. Their
l^rincipal demands may be grouped under three or four
heads. They asked, first, for a purification of ritual, and
for the omission of practices which they regarded as relics
of popery ; next, for the withdrawal of those stringent
regulations touching subscription to the articles which
excluded many conscientious ministers from the Church ;
thirdly, for the abolition of various abuses, such as plu-
ralities and ' commendams ; ' and lastly, for a reform of
the ecclesiastical courts, with restrictions on excommuni-
cation and the 'ex officio' oath. The Hampton Court Con-
ference, held shortly after the presentation of this petition,
arrived at certain conclusions (p. 416) which recognized the
desirability of reform, but produced no practical results,
James, while presiding at the conference, made no secret
of his own bias. In his speech at the opening of his first
Parliament, he clubbed all Protestant nonconformists to-
Ix Introduction.
gether as 'Puritans and Novelists' (p, 283), and told them
plainly they must expect no toleration. It was in vain
that Parliament (p. 285) supported the petitioning ministers.
James replied by a proclamation (p. 420), in which his
resolution to enforce a strict conformity was expressed in
no doubtful terms. The Puritans were allowed a brief
period of grace, and six months later Bancroft, the new
archbishop, who trod in Whitgift's steps, ordered the decree
of deprivation to be carried into effect.
Henceforward the conflict, thus begun, continued without
any real pause, until it ended, for a time, in the overthrow
of the Church. The old demands, so often reiterated, appear
again in the jiarliamentary petitions of 16 10 (pp. 300, 302).
The king, convinced that concession would only expose
the bishops to further attack, and that the very existence
of the monarchy was bound up with the episcopal system,
turned a deaf ear to all such prayers. His obstinacy was
partly instrumental in bringing to an untimely end the
financial treaty known as the Great Contract ', an arrange-
ment which would have been as beneficial to him as to
the countiy at large. It is here that the religious question
becomes fused with the political. The refusal of the king
to grant redress for ecclesiastical grievances was answered
by Parliament with a refusal or at least a stinting of supply.
The question of church reform was practically inseparable
from two other questions, that of the execution of the penal
laws and that of the political power of the bishops. The
former has already been discussed : of the temper of the
Commons regarding the latter, their angry remonstrances
against Bishop Thornborough in 1604, and Bishop Neile
in 16 14, are. striking illustrations. On several occasions
the bishops showed themselves warm and indiscreet sup-
porters of the prerogative. In 1606, it can hardly be
doubted that their influence had much to do with the
failure of the bill to limit the power of Convocation (above,
p. xxxv). Again, in 16 14, they were mainly instrumental
' Gardiner, Hist, of England, ii. 84, 107.
Parliament. Ixi
in procuring the rejection by the Lords of a proposal from
the Lower House for a conference on the burning question
of indirect taxation. The bishops were strictly within
their legal rights, but their conduct on this occasion was
resented by the Commons as an unwarrantable interference
in a purely political dispute. The idea involved in this
objection is hardly compatible with the political control
claimed, and elsewhere exercised, by Presbyterian divines.
Thus religious and political motives combined to urge
upon the representatives of the nation the necessity of
radical ecclesiastical change. At one end of the scale stand
the religious demands of conscientious Puritans ; at the
other the technical objections of the lawyers and the de-
structive aims of partisans who had purely political objects
in view. But between these parties there is no clear line
to be drawn : many men were at once Puritans and poli-
ticians ; the different sections of the attacking force helped
and strengthened each other, and the storm they raised beat
upon the Church till it fell. When in 1641 Archbishop
Williams and his more moderate colleagues tried to appease
the Commons by proposing reforms which would have been
welcomed thirty years before, it was too late. The anti-
episcopal party had a majority, though not a large majority,
in the Long Parliament. This party carried the Act (16
Car, I. 27) which deprived the bishops of their political
rights, and in the effort to prevent theii' 'root and branch'
extinction Charles and his Parliament came to blows.
III.
Parliament.
The legislative importance of Parliament during the
sixteenth centuiy was, as has been already said, very great,
and it was certainly not less under Elizabeth than under
her predecessors. But in the sphere of the executive that
influence cannot be said to have gone fai', and it was by
Ixii Introduction.
no means continuously exercised. Elizabeth, during her
long reign of forty-five years, summoned ten Parliaments,
which held in all thirteen sessions. Parliament met there-
fore, on the average, about once in every three and a half
years. The longest interval was that between the second
and third sessions of her fourth Parliament, when nearly
five years elapsed (March 15, 1576-Jan. 16, 1581). Longer
inteiA^ils had however occurred in the reign of her father,
and were to occur again in those of her two successors.
In the aggregate the sessions of her Parliaments (including
short adjournments), lasted nearly three years, giving an
average of rather more than three weeks per annum. How-
ever necessary an element of the constitution Parliament
may have been, it would be a stretch of language to call
such a system parliamentary government.
James I, in his reign of twenty-two years, summoned
four Parliaments, which held, in all, eight sessions. In
the aggregate they cover nearly as long a time as the
parliamentary sessions of Elizabeth's reign, and give an
average of more than six weeks per annum. But they
are less evenly distributed than those of Elizabeth. During
the first eight years of James' reign. Parliament met no
less than five times, but between 16 10 and 162 1 it met
only once, and the Parliament of 1 6 1 4 was barren of legis-
lation. It might be gathered from this circumstance, even
if we had not more conclusive evidence elsewhere, that
James' relations with his Parliaments were less harmonious
after 16 10 than before that date.
The legislative work of the two reigns is not in propor-
tion to the duration of their parliamentary sessions. The
statutes of Elizabeth are not only considerable in bulk, but
in many cases are of great political, ecclesiastical, and social
importance, striking out new lines of policy which were
to be followed for generations. The legislation of James I
did little more, except in regard to the Union, than follow
out the lines laid down by his predecessor. His Parlia-
ments spent much more time in the defence of their
Composition of Parliament. Ixiii
privileges and in discussions which led to no immediate
legislative results. It does not follow from this that their
work, regarded from the constitutional point of view, is
less deserving of attention. In the time of James I it
was more essential to assert constitutional principles and
to maintain parliamentary rights, than to pass new laws
or to create new institutions.
(a) Composition of Parliament : election of the Spcal;er.
The control of the crown over Parliament depended, in
the first place, on its right to summon, prorogue, and dis-
solve the national assembly at pleasure. This right was
undisputed before the reign of Charles I, and was expressly
asserted by Elizabeth with her usual vigour (p. 125). Its
importance is too obvious to require pointing out. In the
next place, the composition of Parliament was largely
dependent on the will of the sovereign. This was espe-
cially the case in the Upper House. The bishops were
the nominees of the crown, and composed nearly a third
of that body. The temporal peers were few in number —
under Elizabeth they appear never to have exceeded sixty
— and they were naostly new creations, owing their position
to the sovereign and a large part of their possessions
to the Reformation. Although, when once summoned, the
hereditary nature of their privilege might tend to make
them independent, new peers could at any time be created.
From a body so composed, not much opposition was to be
feared. James I was less chary than Elizabeth in creating
peers, but during his reign, at all events, the Upper House
maintained towards the sovereign a complaisant, if not
a subservient attitude.
As it was the right of the crown to call new members
to the House of Lords, so it was also in its power to enlarge
the numbers of the House of Commons. The Tudors made
a full use of this prerogative. During their time the
numbers of the Lower House were nearly doubled, Eliza-
Ixiv Introduction.
beth herself adding no less than sixty-two new members.
James did not go so far in this direction as his predecessor,
but he did his share, with the result that, if we exclude
the Scotch and Irish members, the House of Commons,
at the end of his reign, was nearly as large as it is now.
The new members, with the exception of those from the
Welsh counties added by Henry VIII, came entirely from
the boroughs. Many of them represented small towns,
which would more properly be styled villages, in remote
parts of the countiy, such as Cornwall, where royal in-
fluence might be exerted without much fear of detection.
That such pressure was brought to bear seems proved by
sufficient evidence, but there is no reason to believe that
elections in general took place under conditions like those
which prevailed in the eighteenth centuiy. It is true that
general directions were occasionally issued to sheriffs and
others respecting the class of persons to be nominated
(pp. 280, 441), but it must be remembered that the influence
exercised by local magnates on parliamentary elections,
both in town and countiy, had always been considerable,
and so long as the influential classes w^ere on the side of
the government, it is unnecessary to go further to find
an explanation of the fact that the Tudor Parliaments in
general supported the crown. That the Stewarts, with
just the same power and opportunities, failed to attain
similar results, may be held to imply that the government
exercised little direct control over the elections. Cases
of fraud and bribery occasionally occur, as for instance,
at Westbury in 1571 (p. 132), and at Cardigan and Shrews-
bury in 1604 (p. 331), but so far as the records go, these
affairs appear to have originated in nothing more important
than personal ambition and local intrigue. The main
reason for the large increase in the number of borough-seats
is probably to be found in the growing prosperity of the
country and in the reliance which the Tudors placed on
the commercial and industrial classes. That these classes
must have largely profited by the change is obvious, but
Parliament: the Speaker. Ixv
this gain was shared with others. It was probably owing
to the difficulty of finding men of sufficient standing and
education to represent the smaller places, that the statute
of 1 4 13, which confined the passive franchise to residents,
had been allowed to become obsolete. The result was that
a large number of lawyers found their way into the Lower
House, and formed an influential section of the Elizabethan
and Jacobean Parliaments. The interests of these legal
members, like those of the merchants and traders, were
bound up with the maintenance of law and ordei*. So long,
therefore, as the crown remained the safeguard of these
interests, they were firm in its support. But when the
sovereign deserted their cause, and by straining or overriding
the law undermined the foundations of public order, the
lawyers in particular turned against him. In their ranks
were to be found during the first half of the seventeenth
century many of the boldest and most eloquent opponents
of arbitrary prerogative.
"When Parliament met it was at a great disadvantage as
against the government, owing to its want of organization.
The comparative rarity of its meetings prevented its mem-
bers from knowing each other, and hindered the formation
of the habit of united action under recognized leaders. In
an age when daily papers, public meetings, and the caucus
were unknown, it was impossible to concert measures
beforehand. The election of a Speaker was the first step
on the opening of Parliament, and the powers of the
Speaker (p. 124) were such as to make the choice a matter
of great importance. But it was practically out of the
control of the House. The returns were in the hands of
the Privy Council long before the members could know
who were to be their colleagues. The government therefore
had plenty of time to choose its man and to take proper
measures for securing his election. Although the theory
was that the House appointed the Speaker and presented
him for the acceptance of the crown, the common practice
is described (p. 178; as being exactly the reverse.
e
Ixvi Introduction.
(b) Legislation.
When it came to debate and legislation, the crown had
all the advantage of the initiative. Its ministers had i)re-
pared their Bills and decided on their policy, while unofficial
members were unaware what would be submitted to them
and could only ascertain the truth about many important
facts by applying to the government. Party-organization
was unknown ; ' Her Majesty's Opposition ' had not come
into existence ; and as there was no alternation of ministers
in power, official experience was confined to those actually
in office. Under such conditions, it is not wonderful that
ministers had it largely their own way, and that government
measures passed as a matter of course. On the other hand,
it was generally not difficult to stop obnoxious legislation
in its preliminary stages without having recourse to the
veto of the crown. That the mere intimation of the
queen's displeasure was often sufficient seems clear from
the complaints of Peter Wentworth (p. 120). If this was
not enough, stronger measures were resorted to. A recal-
citrant member was occasionally inhibited from attendance
or committed to prison, as was the case with Mr Strickland
in 1571 (p. 119), and Mr Cope and others in 1587 (p. 124).
Sometimes the obnoxious bill would be sent for by the
queen (p. 120), or legislation would be simply forbidden
(pp. 115, 125, 126). In the last resort the veto could
always be used, and the right to use it was frankly asserted
(pp. 125, 411).
However much these various methods may have detracted
from the free action of Parliament, they must be regarded
on the other hand as so many recognitions of the con-
stitutional principle, that the power to make laws finally
binding on the community resided solely in that body. The
legislative supremacy of Parliament, by which of course is
meant the crown and the three estates in Parliament, is
emphatically set forth by Sir Thomas Smith, himself a royal
official (p. 178). It is asserted, without contradiction, by
Parliament : Lcmslation. Ixvii
'^^s
members of Parliament, as by Yelverton in 157 1 (p. 119),
and, in a more technical form, by Whitelocke in 16 10
^P- 352). But the practical effect of this supremacy was
considerably reduced by the exercise of certain powers, one
positive, the other negative, also recognized as belonging
to the crown. It was generally maintained, at least in the
sixteenth century, that the sovereign could, either aLone
or with the advice of the Council, issue proclamations con-
trolling the liberty of the subject, so long as such edicts
did not run counter to statute or common-law, and that
he could dispense with the action of the law in individual
cases. The constitutional importance of these powers,
limited only by custom or good sense, depended on the
extent to which they were exercised in practice. The Act
of 1539 (31 Hen. VIII. 8), which gave the king's procla-
mations the force of law, had been repealed in 1547 (i Ed.
VI. 12), but this did not prevent the crown from enforcing
them by penalties inflicted through the Privy Council. Such
proclamations were frequent both under Elizabeth and
James 1. The area covered by statute was comparatively
small, and left a large field open to be dealt with by this
quasi-legislative authority. Some of the most remarkable
examples of its use are to be found in connexion with the
cenisorship of the press. The ordinance of 1566 (p. 168),
developed by that of 1586 (p. 169), placed the freedom of
publication under very severe restrictions. By the second
of these edicts the supreme control was placed in the hands
of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London,
the two Chief Justices, and the Chief Baron. Elizabeth's
regulations were confirmed, with slight modifications, by
James I (pp. 394, 395). It may be doubted whether that
king carried the practice further than his predecessor, but,
as the times had changed, he met with more resistance.
The vigorous language in which the Commons protested
against the illegalities of the system (p. 305 \ combined with
the opinion of the judges (Coke's Keports, part xii. p. 297, ed.
1826} that new offences could not be created by proclaniation^
e 2
Ixviii Introduction.
produced a salutaiy effect, and for some time at least this
power was reduced within tolerable limits.
The other power, that of dispensing with the laws in
particular cases, was abundantly exercised in Elizabeth's
reign, especially in regard to Romanists, and also in respect
of commercial regulations. It is not only expressly recog-
nized by Sir T. Smith (p. 179) and Sir F. Bacon (p. iii),
who might perhaps in this point be regarded as prejudiced
witnesses, but by ordinary members of Parliament, like Sir
G. More (p. 113), and when used in moderation it never
seems to have been disputed. James however carried this
power to unheard of lengths. It was by means of it that
he neutralized the action of the penal statutes, and his
declaration of indulgence in 1622 (p. 422) amounted to a
complete suspension of the law. The grave pohtical results
to which this abuse gave rise have been already alluded to.
It was not checked until the Bill of Rights, and even then
the vague language of that document leaves its legal use
indefinite.
The opposition to James' exercise of these powers was
increased by the extravagant language in which the king
and his supporters magnified the prerogative. Elizabeth,
with her statesmanlike instincts, shrank from pompous
definitions and sweeping generalities, but for James they
possessed an irresistible fascination. The political views
with which his writings and speeches abound, would, if
logically carried into practice, have extinguished parlia-
mentary legislation or reduced it to an empty form. In
his analysis of a 'free monarchy,' by which he meant
a monarchy free to do what it pleased, he used expressions
which can only be interpreted as implying absolute legis-
lative powers in the crown (p. 400). Dr Cowell could
scarcely improve upon his sovereign, even when he roundly
asserted that the i^articipation of the estates in the making
of laws was a matter of grace and policy, and that the
execution of statutes was entirely at the king's discretion
(pp. 409, 410-. The Commons could not openly resent
Parliament: Taxation. Ixix
the publication of James' absolutist theories, but they
testified their abhorrence of the same views when uttered
by a subject by ordering Cowell's book to be burnt by the
hangman. At a time when political questions were being
actively debated, and when practical difficulties were forcing
men to find either a legal or philosophical basis for their
respective positions, these theories assumed great impor-
tance. It was essential for the defence of the parliamentary
system that the logical consequences of concessions to the
monarchy should be clearly perceived.
(c) Taxation.
The theoretical control of Parliament over the national
purse was as clearly recognized as its control over the law.
But here again the crown possessed certain indefinite
powers which enabled it to evade the authority of Parlia-
ment, and which were eventually seen to be capable of
very dangerous extension. The crown possessed (i) a re-
venue, more or less regular, derived from crown-lands,
feudal rights, ecclesiastical firstfruits and tenths. Star-
chamber and recusancy fines, and some other sources. In
respect of this revenue it was completely indej)endent.
The indirect taxes (2) levied on imports and exports, in-
cluding customs-duties and tunnage and poundage, were
in a manner subject to control, for they rested on a parlia-
mentary vote passed, during this period, at the outset of
each reign. The rights of purveyance and pre-emption are
historically connected with the customs, and should be
mentioned here, though they were at this time regarded
as something quite separate. The common phrase, ' The
king should live of his own,' applied to the ordinary
revenue which falls under the above-mentioned heads. It
was supposed that this income should suffice for the
ordinary business of the state. But it had never been fully
adequate for this purpose, and it became less and less
sufficient during the Tudor times. It was supplemented
Ixx Introduction.
(3) by the extraordinary taxes called subsidies, and fifteenths
and tenths, which could only be levied by vote of Parlia-
ment, and (4) by the additional duties on imports, known
as impositions, which, though to a certain extent based on
statute (see below, p. Ixxiii), can hardly be called parlia-
mentary. An irregular income was also derived (5) from
the sale of monopolies and patents, the right to grant
licenses to ale-houses, and other means of extortion. Lastly,
(6) the Tudors and tlieir innnediate successors were in the
habit of occasionally increasing their income by collecting
what w^ere fictitiously called benevolences, or of pi'oviding
themselves with ready money by means of loans. The
conflicts which so grievously disturbed the relations be-
tween crown and Parliament in the first half of the seven-
teenth century were mainly due to the uncertainty which
prevailed regarding the second, fourth, and sixth of these
heads, but feudal dues and monopolies also came into
question, and eventually, in Hampden's case, the right of
the crown to take direct taxes without consent of Parlia-
ment.
(i) Feudal Incidents and Purveyance.
The feudal dues, consisting of the sums payable by way
of reliefs, the profits of wardships, marriages, and escheats,
wdth other valuable rights (p. 295), were, after the crown-
lands, the oldest existing source of royal income, unless
indeed purveyance may be regarded as older still. The
ordinary feudal dues were reckoned in 16 10 as being worth
£45,000 a year (p. 345^ But, besides this income, the feudal
sovereign could on three special occasions, viz. the knighting
of his eldest son, the marriage of his eldest daughter, and
for his own ransom, levy an extraordinary aid. The sub-
jects of King James were not likely to be called on to meet
the last-named emergency, but they had to pay for both the
two former. Prince Henry was knighted in 1609, and
Princess Elizabeth was married in 161 3. The method of
collecting the aid on these occasions is described in the
Parliament: Taxation. Ixxi
documents printed on pp. 355-358. It amounted to a tax
of five per cent, on the yearly value of all land held of the
king, whether by military tenure or by socage. It was
levied, in the case of the smaller tenants, by the sheriiF and
other royal officials, while the chancellor and the other
commissioners were appointed to compound with the large
landowners and various corporate bodies. The recurrence of
this unusual demand in 1609, after the lapse of more than
a century — for Henry VII had been the last sovereign in
a position to levy these aids — with its concomitant enquiries
and opportunities for extortion and jobbery, was likely to
give rise to wide-spread irritation. The question of feudal
dues in general had already been brought forward in the
Apology of 1604 (p. 291), when it was urged that the union
with Scotland had removed their original justification. It
was probably due in great measure to the aid of 1609 that
the demand for their abolition came up again in the Parlia-
ment of the following year. A negotiation began, which,
after much haggling, resulted in a proposal that the king
should surrender his feudal rights, together with piu-vej^ance
— a right much more annoying to the subject than bene-
ficial to the crown — and should receive as compensation
a sum of .£200,000 a year (p}). 295, 298, 299). The occa-
sional feudal aids were still to be taken (p. 296) when
occasion arose, but to be limited in amount. The arrange-
ment was on the point of being concluded, when it broke
down, in great measure owing to religious disputes (cf.
above, p. Ix). The rupture of the negotiations left matters
to remain as they were till the Civil War. At the Restora-
tion the feudal dues, already abolished by parliamentary
ordinance in 1643, were finally done away with by statute,
the crown receiving a highly advantageous compensation in
the excise.
The practice of levying fines by way of distraint of
knighthood had its origin in military necessities, but as
it was closely connected with the feudal system and had
become a way of obtaining money, it may be mentioned
Ixxii Introduction.
here. Under this system all persons possessing land worth
.£■40 a year — it had once been £20 — were obliged to take
upon themselves the honour of knighthood, with its
attendant burdens, military and other, or to pay a fine at
the discretion of commissioners nominated for the purpose.
Elizabeth put the system in practice at the commencement
of her reign (p. 133), and her example was followed by
James I and Charles I,
(2) Customs, Timnaf/e and Poundage : Impositions :
Monopolies.
The origin and antiquity of the customs-duties is still
matter of dispute. A discussion of their earlier history
would be out of place here : it must suffice to remind the
reader that, although the 'ancient customs' are recognized
in Magna Carta, the duties on wool, hides, and leather, in
their parliamentary form, date from the reign of Edward I,
while tunnage and poundage, the duties on other kinds of
merchandise, date from that of Edward III. The practice
of granting these latter duties for life, initiated in the last
Parliament of Richard II, had been continued under the
Lancastrian kings. From the time of Edward IV it had
become habitual to make such life-grants at the outset of
each reign. Thus it is not sui'prising to find Parliament
regarding these indirect taxes as ' an ancient revenue an-
nexed and united to the crown' (pp. 25, 26), and making
the same grant to James I as a matter of course. A^Tien
the House of Commons in the first Parliament of Charles I
departed from the practice of nearly two centuries and
attempted to restrict their grant to one year, they took an
important step towards a revolution. The amounts to be
levied on the various commodities are set forth in the
statute of 1559 (i Eliz. 20, p. 26\ and these continued to
be the ordinary rates levied under Act of Parliament
throughout the reigns of Elizabeth and her successor. The
Parliament : Taxation, Ixxiii
customs-duties increased but slowly in amount during the
early years of Elizabeth. In 1585 they were still farmed at
£24,000 a year, but this was considerably below their value.
Forty years later they had increased to £160,000.
But the parliamentary duties do not exhaust the list of
indirect taxes. They were supplemented by impositions,
a name given to certain additional duties laid upon various
articles of import.
The imijortance assumed by the question of impositions
in the reigns of the first two Stewarts necessitates a short
account of their origin and history. The first addition
made in the Tudor times to the old rates was made in 1491,
when an Act (7 Hen. VII. 8) was passed, which largely
increased the duty on sweet wines imported from the
Levant. This was done by w^ay of retaliation on the
Venetians, and was not primarily intended to be profitable
to the crown. In a similar spirit the importation of French
wines was forbidden \^'ithin certain times of the year by the
statute 23 Hen. VIII. 7. But it was a great advance on these
parliamentary regulations when in 1534 Heniy VIII was
empowered (26 Hen. VIII. 10) to regulate by proclamation
the course of trade, even to the extent of repealing statutes
in force or reviving such as might be obsolete, touching the
import or export of any merchandise. Now the natural way
of discouraging a trade was to impose a heavy duty, and thus
arose the royal right of levying impositions. Originally
conferred upon the crown for commercial purposes, and
with what we should now call protective or fair-trade
objects, it was only later that it came to be used as a
means of enhancing the royal revenue. It was by virtue
of this power that Henry VIII, without any interference
from Parliament, modified the duty on sweet wines, and
imposed what was called a ' new custom.' Maiy forbade,
under the penalty of a prohibitive duty, the importation
of French wine at a time when a strong anti-Gallican policy
was being pursued, and still further increased the duty on
sweet wines. Elizabeth, by adding a mark to the duty on
Ixxiv Introduction.
Fi-ench wines, merely equalized it with the duty already
payable on the other sort. Subsequent Acts of Elizabeth's
reign (23 Eliz. 7 ; 39 Eliz. 10) show that this retaliatory
policy was still in fashion, and by implication leave it in
the hands of the crown to carry it out '.
It is clear then that when, in the fourth year of James'
x'eign, the question of impositions came before the Law
Courts in the famous case of Bates, the crown could quote
law and precedent in its favour. But in this particular
matter — the duty levied upon currants — special arguments
might be used in behalf of the crown. The government
was empowered, partly by custom, partly by statute, to
regulate trade. Such regulation might take the form either
of repression or encouragement. Repression, as shown
above, implied the right of le^^ing impositions : encourage-
ment might be given by the grant of monopolies. In the
case of foreign trade, which often involved great risks, such
encouragement was, in the infancy of commerce, almost
indispensable. Hence the monopolies granted to the great
trading companies towards the close of the sixteenth and
the beginning of the seventeenth centuries. Naturally,
however, such monopolies were not granted for nothing :
the crown looked to make its profit, directly, by a charge
upon the company, and indirectly, by the general growth of
trade and customs. On such a basis as this, the Levant
Company had been established towards the end of Elizabeth's
reign. After passing through various vicissitudes, it had
arranged with the crown to keep its monopoly on payment
of i:4,ooo a year. But partly in deference to the outcry
against monopolies, partly owing to losses in trade, the
company in 1603 withdrew from the bargain, surrendered
its charter and ceased to pay the yearly rent. To recoup
the crown for the loss thus incurred, the duty on currants —
a duty previously levied by the company itself on merchants
* Cf. Hall, Cuslo7ns-Revenue, i. 122 ff., correcting Hallam, Const. Hist.,
i. 243, 316.
Parliament: Taxation. Ixxv
not belonging to it — was put on. It will be allowed that,
on legal and other grounds, there was much to be said for
the government \
But the question could not any longer be regarded solely
from the legal point of view. These trade-monopolies and
additional duties, originally justified in the eyes of con-
temporaries by supposed commercial necessity, had become
a source of profit to the crown and therefore a means of
evading parliamentaiy control. It was only natural that
the full importance of the question from the political point
of view was not immediately perceived. How it was
argued in court by Bates' counsel we do not know, but
the opinions of the judges (pp. 340-342) are based mainly
on legal grounds. It cannot be maintained that in giving
judgement they were servile, intimidated or corrupt, and
had they confined their observations to purely legal topics,
it would have been difficult to find valid objections to their
decision. But unfortunately they went further. Although
such considerations were not vital to their case, they intro-
duced political theories capable of wide and dangerous
application. Baron Clarke maintained that statutes were
only binding on the king who made them, and Chief Baron
Fleming drew a distinction between the ordinary and the
absolute power of the crown. It is difficult not to perceive
in this distinction the effect of James' unfortunate penchant
for philosophical generalization, but no doubt it was also
due to the discussions about sovereignty to which political
disagreement was inevitably giving rise.
It is remarkable that the Parliament of 1608 acquiesced
in the decision of the Exchequer, but the advantage taken
by Cecil of that decision, and the issue of a new Book of
Rates in which it was applied, brought the political con-
sequences clearly before the eyes of a later assembly. The
commission by which James empowered his Treasurer to
levy impositions frankly claims for the crown (p. 354) a free
1 Cf. Gardiner, Hist, of England, ii. i-io; and Hall, Cus/oms- Revenue,
i- 145-173-
Ixxvi Introduction.
hand in this branch of taxation, and states expressly that
a revenue may and ought to be raised by this method. The
Parliament of 1610, engaged in a conflict with the king on
religious and other questions, could not afford, by recog-
nizing this claim, to relinquish so important a means of
bringing pressure to bear upon the crown. The debates of
that year show that the representatives of the nation were
fully alive to the danger. Mr Hakewill argued the legal
question at great length (p. 342). On technical points he
cannot be said to have had the better of his opponents,
and it is unfortunate that, in the endeavour to gain a victory
on this doubtful ground, he laid himself open to the charge
of being disingenuous. But, after all, this was not in the
main a technical question. An important political principle
was at issue, and here the speaker could bring stronger
arguments to beai'. He endeavoured to prove that indefinite
taxes, like indefinite penalties, were alien to the spirit of
English law ; that such sources of revenue, if not fixed by
statute, were not left to be settled by the caprice of the
sovereign ; that previous kings had recognized the right of
Parliament to fix the dues in question ; that the king's
right to close the ports to persons and goods, if necessary
for the national safety, did not imply the right of setting
what price he pleased upon their entry ; and that if the
king might raise impositions at discretion, he might by
the same argument raise any other tax. Mr Whitelocke
(p. 351), while by no means ignoring legal arguments,
placed the issue on still higher grounds. He showed that
the power now claimed was of an essentially revolutionary
nature ; that sovereignty resided, not (as Baron Fleming
said) in the king alone, but in the king-in-parliament ; and
that if the king's claim were allowed, there would soon be
an end of parliamentary government. Looked at in the
light of later events, there is something prophetic about
the utterances of these two speakers. They might almost be
thought to have pointed out the way to the despotic
advisers of Charles I. Both sides could quote law and
Parliament: Taxation. Ixxvii
precedent in their own favour, and make plausible deduc-
tions from established premises, but they were equally-
aware that the question was at bottom political. If we
regard the discussion as a legal one only, we shall be
wearied by its antiquarianism and its technicalities ; but
looked at from another point of view, it becomes one of the
highest interest. It is not too much to say that it contains
the germ of all the subsequent quarrel, anticipates the cases
of Darnel and Hampden, and foreshadows not obscurely the
fundamental question at issue in 1640.
The rival claims of King and Parliament were unfortu-
nately not settled on this occasion. A Bill for remedying
the evil was prepared, and the king at one time promised to
give his assent. But the Bill went the way of the Great
Contract, and the dissolution of Parliament shelved the
question for several years. In 161 4 it came up again.
Impositions were now distinctly coupled with monopolies,
with which, as has been shown above, they were historically
connected. A committee had been appointed to report on
the grievance of monopolies in 1597. The great debate in
1 601 (pp. 111-117) had not been barren of results, and
some monopolies had been abolished. But the practice
was too convenient a way of rewarding clamorous sup-
porters and of bringing a little money into an empty
exchequer to be entirely relinquished. During the first ten
years of James' reign, the evil had steadily grown, but the
time was not yet ripe for checking it. The Addled Par-
liament separated without making any way either with this
question or with that of impositions. Its successors were
more fortunate. By the year 1621 the evil of monopolies
had grown to an unprecedented height. Not only were
they so numerous as to encroach in all directions upon the
freedom of trade and manufacture, but the patents granted
were grossly abused. The Parliament of 162 1 made ex-
amples of the most notorious offenders, such as Michell
and Mompesson, but it was dissolved before it could deal
with the question as a whole. It was reserved for the
Ixxviii Introduction.
Parliament of 1624 to pass an Act (21 & 22 Jac. I. 3)
which, while recognizing the necessity of encouraging
inventions, put a stop to all arbitrary and unjustifiable
restrictions. But this Parliament refrained from attacking
impositions, although their value had largely increased
during James' reign. The impositions, including the taxes
on wines, produced in 1623 upwards of £100,000, while
various special duties brought in some £60,000 more,
making with the ordinary customs (above, p. Ixxiii), a total
of £323,000 derived from indirect taxation'.
(3) Benevolences and Loans.
The practice of demanding benevolences, in its later form,
seems to have begun at least as far back as the reign of
Edward IV. Though they were nominally free gifts, per-
suasion was, from the first, only too liable to degenerate
into compulsion. Abolished in 1483 (i Ric. III. 2), they
were authorized, at least by implication, under Henry VII
(2 Hen. VII. 10), and were occasionally taken down to the
time of Charles I. Elizabeth seldom had recourse to this
method. Indeed the only known occasion seems to be that
of 1587, and as the contribution w^as in this case voted by
Convocation (p. 137 ^) it was at all events not a benevolence
of the ordinary kind. James was less scrupulous than his
predecessor. Having quarrelled wath his Parliaments, or
being anxious to avoid having recourse to parliamentary
methods, he took benevolences on three occasions, in 161 4,
1620, and 1622. In the circular issued in 1622 (p. 359;,
the contribution is as usual stated to be voluntaiy, but the
threat of summons before the Council, in case of ' obstinacy or
disaffection,' shows that pressure was to be used to stimulate
deficient loyalty. Charles I attempted once or twice to take
benevolences, but wdth little success. The last occasion on
' Cf. C4ai-diner, Hist, of England, x. 322.
'^ Hallam [Const. Hist., i. 243) seems to be in error here.
Parliament: Taxation. Ixxix
which the contribution appears was in i66r, but then it
was voted by Act of ParHament. The method was naturally-
unpopular with all parties. It was of course objected to
by opponents of the monarchy as an illegal tax and as an
evasion of parliamentaiy control, while it was disliked by
supporters of the government because it was sure, in the
end, to fall most heavily on those whose principles made
them most willing to pay.
In order to meet temporaiy deficiencies, the Tudor and
Stewart sovereigns were in the habit of borrowing money
on a large scale from their subjects. This practice was little
more defensible, on constitutional grounds, than that of
exacting benevolences. In the earlier Middle Ages the
government had been accustomed to borrow from the Jews,
who could not refuse a royal demand, or from foreign
merchants, who were tempted by a high rate of interest.
After the Jews were expelled and foreigners alienated by
political circumstances or repeated losses, the practice of
taking loans from subjects began. This practice became
habitual under Edward IV, and his successors followed his
example. The Parliaments of Henry VIII more than once
sanctioned the process by remitting his loans (21 Hen. VIII.
24; 35 Hen. VIII. 12). Elizabeth frequently took loans,
especially towards the end of her reign, for instance, in
1569, 1 58 1, 1589, 1590, 1596, and 1599, and probably on
other occasions. She sometimes borrowed considerable
sums from individuals, notably the wealthy merchants of
London ; on other occasions a loan was levied generally
throughout the country. In 1581, nine rich merchants
advanced a collective sum of £5,000 ; others contributed
£15,000 in 1589. The general loan of 1569 produced over
£20,000, that of 1589 nearly £50,000. In such cases the
usual method seems to have been as follows (p. 134).
Letters were written by the Privy Council to the Lords-
Lieutenant, bidding them draw up a list of well-to-do
persons in their counties, adding such lump-sums as in
their opinion these persons might fairly be called upon to
Ixxx Introduction.
contribute. The lists were then revised by the Council,
and letters called Privy Seals were sent to the individuals
in question (p. 136), ordering them to pay over to the
collector named by the Lord-Lieutenant the sum at which
they were assessed. Interest was sometimes paid, but not,
apparently, in the case of the general loans. The loans appear
to have been, as a rule, repaid, but not always punctually,
for in 1589 we find one lender. Lord Mayor Martin, sending
in a claim for £i 6,000, much of which had been for a long
time due. That some discontent was caused, at all events
in particular cases, and that pressure was sometimes re-
quired, there is abundant evidence to prove, but it appears
that the practice was generally accepted during Elizabeth's
reign.
James I, whose expenditure always exceeded his income,
appears to have borrowed money frequently, not however
by way of general loans, but from individuals. As was
only natural, he experienced more difficulty than his pre-
decessor : indeed we are told that when on one occasion,
in 1 610, after his breach with the Parliament, he had
recourse to the rich merchants, he met with a point-blank
refusal. The cessation of general loans for about a
generation made Charles I's attempt to raise one in 1626
all the more unpopular. The loan of that year is com-
monly spoken of as the Forced Loan, but the epithet,
if meant to indicate a distinction, is unfortunate, for this
loan was hardly more compulsory than those of the pre-
vious century. The difference was that, whereas Eliza-
beth's loans were generally collected with little difficulty
and tne only pressure required was noiselessly appKed by
the Privy Council, the loan of 1626 was universally re-
sisted and an ill-advised attempt was made to crush
the resistance by imprisonment M'hich attracted general
attention. The result was Darnel's case and the Petition
of Eight.
Parliament: Taxation. Ixxxi
(4) Fifteenths and Tenths^ and Subsidies.
There remain to be considered the extraordinary parlia-
mentary taxes, Fifteenths and Tenths, and Subsidies. Taxes
on goods, as opposed to taxes on land, date from the latter
part of the twelfth century. They were levied in varying
proportions until the reign of Edward III, when it became
habitual to take a fifteenth and a tenth, or two or more
fifteenths and tenths, the smaller fraction being levied on
the counties, the larger on the towns. About the same
time the assessment appears to have become fixed. The
various amounts paid by the different districts under the
assessment of 1334 were afterwards retained without alter-
ation, except that a large drawback was, in course of time,
allowed in the case of decayed towns. Thus fixed, the
Fifteenth and Tenth became practically a tax upon holders
of lands and tenements, of a definite value, amounting
(after making all deductions) to little more than £30,000.
After a while it became obvious, not only that owing to
changes of circumstances this tax pressed unfairly on certain
districts, but that it did not fully utilize the resources of the
countiy. It therefore became the practice to grant supple-
mentary taxes called Subsidies. The word subsidy is at
first loosely used — it is applied, for instance, to tunnage and
poundage (p. 26) — but after the early part of Henry VIII's
reign it came to mean a direct parliamentary tax of 4s. in
the pound on the yearly value of land and 2s. 8d. in the
pound on personal property. These proportions seem to
have been taken in order to connect the older and newer
methods, for the rate on land is two tenths and that on per-
sonalty two fifteenths of a pound. In theory the subsidy
was freshly assessed on each occasion, but, as with other
direct taxes, the assessment tended to become formal, with
the inevitable result of a gradual diminution in amount.
Thus a lay subsidy, which at the beginning of Elizabeth's
reign is calculated to have amounted to about £100,000,
was worth at the end of the century little more than £80,000.
f
Ixxxii Introduction.
A clerical subsidy (see above, p. xxxv) produced about £20,000
more.
The usual practice, not however by any means unvaried,
was to grant two fifteenths and tenths to every subsidy.
Such a normal grant was made in 1559 (p. 27). The special
advantages which a subsidy possessed over the older tax were
(i) that it covered all kinds of property ; (2) that the new
assessment allowed for changes in the value of land and the
income of persons taxed ; (3) that aliens, and subsequently
recusants, paid a double rate ; (4) that the assessment and
collection were carried on under the superintendence of the
central authority and with elaborate provisions against fraud
or evasion. The fifteenths and tenths were levied by col-
lectors appointed by the members of Parliament (p. 28) in
theii" respective districts — probably a relic of the time when
the members who voted a tax were responsible for collecting it
themselves. In the case of subsidies, the chancellor,
treasurer, and other great officers of state appointed com-
missioners for the larger districts and boroughs (p. 30), who
in turn appointed collectors under them for the purpose of
assessing and levying the tax. The whole machinery of
collection is elaborately described in the Act. Peers were
assessed and taxed directly by the chancellor and other
high officials (p. 34). Exemptions were gi-anted to the
northern counties, Ireland, the Cinque Ports, and the Channel
Islands, presumably on the ground of special military or
other liabilities, as well as to Universities, schools, and hos-
pitals (pp. 35, 36). In spite of the advantages possessed by
subsidies over fifteenths and tenths, these two kinds of
taxation continued to be combined in the parliamentary votes
till 1624, after which fifteenths and tenths disappeared. Sub-
sidies survived till 1663, when they too were finally super-
seded.
The Parliaments of Elizabeth were called upon to vote
these taxes in almost every session. During the first thirty-
five years of the reign the grants are fairly uniform and
average between .£40,000 and £50,000 a year. But from
Parliament: Taxation. Ixxxiii
the year 1593 they are largely increased, and during the last
ten years of the reign the yearly average is more than
£1 20,000. It was well for the national purse that the war with
Spain was so long deferred. The early Parliaments of James I
were very liberal. For his first two years he had the benefit
of the large grant voted in i6or (p. 106), which was to cover
a period of four years. The war with Spain came to an end
in 1604, but, in spite of this, Parliament made grants to
James in time of peace almost as large as those they made
to his predecessor in time of war. For the next six years
his parliamentary income must have averaged over £100,000
a year. But this large revenue ceased in 161 1, when the
vote of 161 o ran out, and during the next ten years he
received nothing from this source. The outbreak of the
Thirty Years' War brought a change. The grant of 1621
was meagre, for the country had no confidence in James'
policy : that of 1624, on the other hand, was the largest
yet made (p. 279). But it was accompanied by conditions
of a novel kind and of great constitutional importance. The
system afterwards called appropriation of supply was not
altogether new, for approaches to it had been made in the
fourteenth century, but it was unknown during the Tudor
times. It was a remarkable advance in the direction of par-
liamentary control when it was enacted (p. 279) that the
money granted should be paid into the hands of treasurers
nominated by Parliament, and applied in accordance with
previous resolutions (p. 318) for certain specified objects,
and for no other. To secure this end, the treasurers and the
Council of War were made responsible to Parliament, with
an express declaration that the houses themselves should
punish any misappropriation of the funds. The earlier
Parliaments of Charles I seem to have found this plan
impracticable, but it was revived by the Long Parliament,
and from 1668 onwards became the rule.
It should be mentioned in this connexion that the
Commons already claimed, though as yet but tentatively,
the exclusive right of determining the amount of taxation.
f 2
Ixxxiv Introduction.
In the year 1593, when a subsidy bill was under discussion,
the Lower House, having voted two subsidies, received
a message from the Lords stating that they would not
assent to less than three, and requesting a conference on the
subject. After a speech from Bacon (p. 443), in which the
principle in question was clearly stated, the conference was
refused. It should however be pointed out that the bill was
eventually modified as the Lords proposed, and that the
Commons, as Bacon's speech shows, did not as yet claim the
sole right of ' originating ' money-bills, though they appear
to regard deviations from this custom as excej^tional.
Throughout the period under review both Lords and
Commons concur in granting subsidies (pp. 27, 279). It
is not till 1625 that the Commons grant it alone.
(d) Jurisdiction of Parliament.
There is no such thing, properly speaking, as the juris-
diction of Parliament as a whole. Chief Justice Coke says
indeed (Institutes, IV. i, p. 23), 'It is to be known that the
Lords in their house have power of judicature, and the
Commons in their house have power of judicature, and both
houses together have power of judicature.' But the prece-
dents which he quotes to prove the last statement are taken
from early times, and their applicability may be doubted.
In an impeachment the Lords alone are judges, the Commons
appearing only as accusers. An act of attainder is not
a judicial proceeding at all, but rather, as was shown in
Strafford's case, a substitute for it. Both houses however
have, and had in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
separate judicial authority, that of the Lords being far wider
than that of the Commons. Both houses have jurisdiction
over their own members, and over persons, not being
members, who violate their privileges (below, p. xciii).
Beyond this the jurisdiction of the Commons does not go.
The punishment inflicted on the town of Westbury in
1 571 (p. 132), though it would now be considered an illegal
Parliament: Jurisdiction. Ixxxv
extension, might have been defended at the time on the
ground of privilege, for bribery in an election is an attack
iij^on the purity of Parliament. The case of Floyde in 1621
(P- 337) showed that the House of Commons cannot punish,
however strongly it may disapprove, a misdemeanour which
does not affect itself. The limits of its jurisdiction drawn by
the Lords on that occasion (p. 338) were accepted by the
Commons as agi'eeable to the law. It was indicative of
their politic temper and constitutional sj^irit that they recog-
nized their mistake, and retired with dignity from the false
position into which their religious enthusiasm had betrayed
them. It is remarkable, however, that they should have
needed a second lesson, for in the case of Mitchell at the
opening of the session, they had themselves recognized that
they possessed no such separate jurisdiction ^. The claim of
the House of Commons to be considered a court of record
was insisted on in 1604 (pp. 287, 329), and though at first
denied by the king was afterwards acknowledged by him
(P- 330) and by the Lords (p. 338).
The jurisdiction of the House of Lords is more important.
The peers possessed the peculiar right of trying members of
their own body when charged with treason or felony. This
right they exercised, though with certain limitations (below,
p. cxxvii) in several cases during the sixteenth centuiy, for
instance in the trials of the Duke of Norfolk in 1572 (p. 138)
and of the Earl of Essex in 160 1. Of their appellate juris-
diction in civil cases, and of the original jurisdiction which
they occasionally claimed both in civil and criminal cases,
nothing need here be said. But theii* jurisdiction in cases
of impeachment, that is to say when any person was charged
before them by the Commons of England with public crimes
or misdemeanours, was of great constitutional importance.
As a means of securing the responsibility of ministers, the
weapon of impeachment was applied so far back as the reign
of Edward III. During the centuiy that followed it was
occasionally used, but during the whole of the Tudor period
^ Gardiner, Hist, of Engl. , iv. 42.
Ixxxvi Introduction.
it lay idle. The cases of Buckingham and vStrafford in
Charles I's reign, of Clarendon and Danby in that of his son,
are perhaps the most notable examples of its application to
constitutional purposes. The instances that occur in the
reign of James I are not of so high political importance,
but they are of great moment as precedents which re-
established the system after a long period of desuetude, and
replaced in the hands of Parliament a weapon of tremendous
power.
The first persons against whom this weapon was used
during the period under review were a comparatively low
class of offenders, the holders of patents and monopolies.
The impeachment of Michell, Mompesson and others by the
Parliament of 1 6 2 1 was successful, but it was only indirectly
of political importance. The patentees and monopolists
were charged, not with political crimes, but with fraud and
injustice. Nevertheless as monopolies had long been
a political grievance, and the abuses connected with them had
been tolerated, if not encouraged, by the court, the punish-
ment of these persons might be regarded as a victory over
the government. Still more damaging was the fall of Bacon
(p. 334), for Bacon was a great official, the head of the law,
and a trusted minister of the crown. Corruption in high
places was struck at in his person, and though his crime
was not political, his condemnation discredited the political
system of the day. His case is also important from the fact
that the House of Commons, jealous of its freedom of action,
resisted the king's suggestion to change the mode of pro-
ceeding (p. 334), and maintained its rights of prosecution
intact. The impeachment of Bacon, in respect of its poli-
tical significance, falls half-way between the case of Mom-
pesson in 162 1 and that of Middlesex in 1624, as that again
forms a stepping-stone to the case of Buckingham, in which
the full constitutional importance of the method was for the
first time displayed.
Parliament: Privilege. Ixxxvii
(e) Parliamentary Privilege.
As it was an essential part of the Tudor policy to rule by
means of Parliaments, it was natural that they should do all
that was in their power to render that body an efficient
instrument. Hence it is not surprising to find that the
sixteenth century, the period of despotic government, is
also the period in which parliamentary privileges were for
the first time clearly formulated, and, with one exception,
confirmed. That exception is noteworthy. The privilege
which was not established during the j^eriod under review,
is that one which an autocratic sovereign could not afford to
recognize, namely, the privilege of freedom of speech.
The i^ractice of demanding recognition, at the opening of
Parliament, of the three great privileges, freedom from
arrest, freedom of speech, and freedom of access, which,
together with a favourable construction of the proceedings
of the House, form the staple of the Speaker's request at the
present day, was a very modern institution in the time of
Elizabeth. So late as the year 1515, the Speaker followed
the practice of the preceding century, and asked merely for
freedom of speech and of access for himself. Freedom of
speech for members of the House in general was first
requested by Speaker Moyle in 1542. The first recorded
occasion on which the three customary demands were made
occurs in 1554. In the first Parliament of Elizabeth we are
vaguely told that the Speaker petitioned for 'the ancient
liberties.' In 1562 the records give for the first time the
exact words in which this petition was embodied (p. 117).
The custom was, however, not even yet fully established,
and it is not till after the year 1571 that it became
habitual.
The frequency with which cases of privilege occurred, and,
probably, the imprisonment of Cope, Wentworth, and others
in 1587, led in the latter part of Elizabeth's reign to the
appointment, at the opening of each session, of a standing
committee for privileges. Such a committee was first
appointed in 1589 (p. 117). A similar committee was
Ixxxviii Introduction,
appointed at the opening of Parliament in 1593 (p. 118).
and in 1597 and 1601, and from that time onward the
practice was regularly followed.
Freedom of access to the sovereign was held to be the
right of the peers individually, as hereditary counsellors of
the crown. The members of the Lower House enjoyed the
same privilege through their Speaker. This important
official was the regular means of communication between
the Queen and her faithful Commons. Both Elizabeth and
her successor constantly made use of him to intimate their
pleasure to the House (see index). On the other hand, it
may be surmised from some remarks of the Lord Keeper in
1593 (p. 125) that the privilege of access on behalf of Parlia-
ment was so frequently used as to try the royal patience
somewhat severely.
The privilege of freedom from arrest during a session of
Parliament, and for a certain time before and after, in all
cases except treason, felony and surety for the peace,
belonged equally to both houses. In the case of the Lords,
if precedent were required, the privilege may be regarded as
established by the release of Lord Cromwell (p. 126), on
Avhich occasion the Upper House placed on record a formal
statement of their right. In the case of the Commons the
privilege was confirmed not only by several early prece-
dents, but by the statute of 1433 (11 Hen. VI. 11). The
case of Speaker Thorpe in 1453 could hardly create a prece-
dent to the contrary, for on that occasion the judges declared
in favour of the privilege. Ferrer's case, in 1543, is remark-
able as being the first in which the House of Commons took
the law into its own hands. They refused the intervention
of the chancellor, and released their member by means of
a direct demand. This was an important step in the direction
of independence, but the precedent was not immediately
followed. So late as the year 1556 the House applied to the
Chanceiy for a writ in favour of a burgess named Gardiner.
But towaixls the end of the century several cases occur by
which not only the privilege itself, but also the right to
Parliament: Privilege. Ixxxix
enforce it by independent action may be regarded as fairly
established. Such cases are those of Martin in 1587 and of
Fitzherbert and Neale in 1 593 (p. 127). The two first of these
cases are important as fixing the time during which the privi-
lege could be claimed. In spite of these precedents, the privi-
lege was violated in the first Parliament of James I, and it
was only by dint of great perseverance and the use of very
strong measures that the House of Commons maintained
its position. The difficulty in Sir Thomas Shirley's case
(pp. 320-323) arose from the fact that, if a person detained
for debt were released, the creditor lost his claim, and the
gaoler (under Stat. 7 Hen. IV. 4) was liable to an action for
letting him go. The Warden of the Fleet prison, in wiiich
Sir Thomas Shirley was confined, obstinately refused to obey
the commands of the House of Commons, and not even im-
prisonment in a dungeon of the Tower could for some time
overcome his resolution. The House was on the point of
calling the chancellor to its aid, but this retrograde step was
fortunately avoided, and the case ended in a complete victory
for the Commons. It necessitated the passing of no less
than three Acts of Parliament, one general and two particular.
One of the two latter, in which the claim of the House, the
immunity of the warden, and the rights of the creditor are
all preserved, is printed below (p. 324). The general Act,
intended to obviate all such difficulties in future, is given on
p. 254 \ From this time onward the privilege w^as secure.
At a time when, for the sake of personal protection as well
as for other reasons, the regular attendance of servants was
indispensable, it was only natural that the privilege of free-
dom from arrest should be extended to persons in the service
of members of Parliament. It needed, however, many
precedents to establish it in the sixteenth century. The
case of Digges in 1584 (p. 128) proves that the Lords could
enforce it without appeal to any extraneous authority.
Another case, that of Pinnies in the same year, shows that
^ See, for a full account of the case, Engl. Hist. Review, vol. viii.
P- 733-
xc Introdiicfion.
the privilege was confined to l>ona fide menial servants.
Many cases in connexion with the House of Commons occur
before the well-known one of Smalley in 1576 (p. 128). The
chief importance of this affair lies in the fact that, whereas in
previous cases the prisoner was released Ijya writ of privilege
from the Chancery, in this case he was released by the direct
action of the House. Tlie precedent so established was after-
wards maintained. It may be remarked that Smalley and
his master, Hall, were subsequently instrumental in illus-
trating at their own cost other privileges of the House of
Commons (pp. xciii, 131).
The exemption from the duty of giving evidence in
a law-court and from sitting on juries, may be considered in
connexion with the right of freedom from arrest, for both
are based on the paramount necessity of attendance at another
and that the highest court of the realm. The exemption
from service on juries seem to have been fairly established
during Elizabeth's reign (p. 129). In regard to summons by
a subpoena, the matter is not quite so clear. The privilege
appears to have been established as against the Star Chamber
and inferior courts, but not against the Chancery. This
court resisted the claim of the House in 1585 (p. i29\ and
again in 1597, when the Lord Keeper declared that 'to
revoke the subpoena was to restrain her Majesty in her
greatest power, which is justice \ '
The rights to determine questions connected with mem-
bership of the House, to control, punish, or expel its own
members, and to punish attacks made upon the House col-
lectively or upon its members as individuals, are not among
the privileges demanded by the Sjjeaker, but were necessary
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the efficiency
and independence of Parliament. These rights were estab-
lished during the peiiod under review.
The returns to writs for parliamentary elections were by
an Act of the year 1406 (7 Hen. IV. 15) made returnable
into Chancery (p. 328), but during the fifteenth century
^ If Ewes' Journals, p. 554.
Parliament : Privilege. xci
questions arising out of them are said to have been deter-
mined by the King and the Lords. It was not till the reign
of Elizabeth that the House of Commons claimed the right
of settling these questions. The first occasion on which it
appointed a special committee to examine the retiu'iis appears
to have been in 1581 \ A similar committee was appointed
in 1584 ^ What these committees did is not recorded, but
their proceedings probably formed precedents for the conduct
of the House in 1586. The chancellor and the judges under-
took in that year to settle a disj)uted election for the county
of Norfolk, but the Commons resolved (p, 130) that in so
doing they were exceeding their jurisdiction. As the House
came to the same conclusion as the chancellor with respect
to the point in debate, that officer perhaps thought it was
not worth while to discuss the question of jurisdiction ; at
all events he appears to have acquiesced. It was probably
owing to this affair that the duty of examining returns was
entrusted in 1593 (p. 118) and subsequently (p. 328) to the
standing committee for privileges. During the rest of the
reign the Commons seem to have been allowed to reap the
fruits of their victory. But the question was not settled : it
reappeared in the famous case of the election for Bucks in
1604. When James' first Parliament was summoned, he
took the unusual step of issuing a proclamation (p. 280), in
which he not only dictated to the electors and to the officers
concerned the conduct which they ought to pursue, but
expressly ordered that the writs should be returned into
Chancery. When Parliament met it was found (p. 325)
that the first election for the county of Bucks had been
quashed and a second election held. The House of Commons,
after going into the matter at length, declared the first
election good, and admitted Sir Francis Goodwin, the knight
first elected, to his seat. In taking this step they deliber-
ately ignored the king's proclamation, which must have been
known to every member of the House. A long dispute
' Commons' Journals, i. 129.
* D' Ewes' Journals, pp. 337, 344.
xcii Introduction.
ensued, in which the Commons, with an ahnost humorous
combination of deference and firmness, defended their position
so well that the king was forced to give way. A compromise
was arranged, in accordance with which both decisions were
set aside, and a new election ordered (p. 33 1 ). Taken alone, the
Bucks election would hardly have made a satisfactory prece-
dent, but the victory practically remained with Parliament.
On the very day on which the new writ for an election for the
county of Bucks was issued, the House determined, without
contradiction, two other disputed elections (pp. 331-333)-
These cases may be taken to have estabhshed the privilege,
Avhich was never afterwards assailed.
The right of determining the qualifications for member-
ship is closely connected with that of examining returns.
General rules on this subject could only be made by Act of
Parliament, as was done by the statute of 1 4 1 3 ( 1 Hen. V. i ),
which decreed that only resident knights or burgesses could
be elected. As has already been observed (above, p. Ixv),
this statute had become obsolete. A bill to repeal it was
introduced in 1571, but after being twice read was allowed
to drop \ On the other hand, precedents were set in indi-
vidual cases which practically had the force of law. Thus
Smyth's case (1559) decided that an outlaw could sit, while
Lord Ruseeirs case in 1576, following on a similar case in
1549, conferred the same right on the eldest sons of peers
(p. 131). The decision in Smyth's case was upheld in that
of Vaughan (1581)^, while in the case of Fitzherbert (p. 127)
a distinction was made between outlawry in a private suit
and outlawiy at the suit of the crown. This distinction
recurs in the Bucks election case (p. 329). By admitting
Goodwin the Commons only confirmed their previous de-
cisions, but they declared then' intention of bringing in a
bill to disqualify outlaws in future. The question of lunacy
has in recent times given some trouble, but the House
settled it without difficulty in 1566, in the case of a
^ D' Ewes' Journals, pp. 168 if.
- Conitnons' Journals, i. 124.
Parliament: Privilege. xciii
Mr Perne, elected for Grampound, and ' reported to be
a lunatic,' by simply issuing a warrant for a new election'.
The election for Cambridge in 1621 (p. 333) settled that
returning officers could not return themselves.
The right of the House of Commons to punish its own
members was proved in the case of Peter Wentworth
(p. 122), whose first committal in 1576 was due to the
action of the House itself. The right was still more forcibly
illustrated in the case of Hall (1581), who, for a libel on the
Speaker, was not only fined and imprisoned, but expelled
the House (p. 131). Dr Pariy was in 1584 committed
to the Serjeant's ward for a violent speech in opposition
to the bill against Jesuits, and was subsequently expelled ^
The right may be said to have been strained in the cases
of Sir R, Floyde and Mr Shepherd, who were expelled in
1620, the one for the crune of being a monopolist (p. 333),
the other because he had spoken disparagingly of the Puritan
Sabbath.
Many cases occur in which the House exercised the right
of punishing those who violated or abused its pi-ivileges or
assaulted its members. In 1543 the sheriffs who had
arrested Ferrers were committed by order of the House.
The imprisonment of the Warden of the Fleet and others
in 1604 is an instance of the same kind (pp. 321, 322).
Smalley, whose release in 1576 (see above, p. xc) had
illustrated the immunity of members' sei'vants from arrest,
was afterwards discovered to have fraudulently procured his
arrest in order to escape payment of his debt, and was
severely punished by the Housed The case of Williams
(p. 132) illustrates the special protection from assault con-
ferred upon members of Parliament. This privilege was
probably of veiy old standing, for it had been extended
by an Act of Parliament in 1404 (5 Hen. IV. 6) even to
members' servants. The right of committal was applied
' Commons' Journals, i. 75.
* D'Ewes' Journals, p. 352.
' lb., p. 258.
xciv Introduction.
in the same year to protect the privacy of debate (p. 133),
a privilege which Parliament enjoyed in common with other
high courts of law.
But all these privileges were of comparatively little value
if the one thing needful, freedom of speech, were denied.
This all-important privilege, it must be allowed, was not
completely established until the Long Parliament. The
rare cases, such as that of Wentwoi-th and Parry (above,
p. xciii), in which the House itself placed restraints upon its
members, need not receive more than passing notice. What
requires consideration is the extent to which the crown
interfered to check liberty of debate. The cases of Haxey
in 1397 and of Strode in 15 13 are well known. In both
cases the privilege was successfully vindicated, but Strode's
Act (4 Hen. VIII. 8), though it barred actions against mem-
bers of Parliament by other courts or private individuals on
account of things said or done in Parliament, was evidently
not regarded as capable of application against the crown.
The control exercised by Elizabeth over the introduction of
bills, especially such as concerned religion, has already been
noticed (above, p. Ixvi), and interference with legislation
cannot in practice be distinguished from limitations on
freedom of speech. Apart from ecclesiastical affairs, there
were certain other subjects which the queen was very
unwilling to submit to public discussion. Such were the
questions of her marriage and the succession to the crown.
But these were matters of such grave public interest,
especially in the earlier part of her reign, that discussion
of them was inevitable. Elizabeth's first Parliament pre-
sented a petition, begging her to marry, to which she gave
a gracious answ^er, couched in the enigmatical style in which,
when she chose, she could show herself so remarkable a pro-
ficient. The House expressed its satisfaction, but when, four
years later, it met again and nothing had been done to
appease its anxiety, it could not help recurring to the
subject. The petition of 1563, at once respectful and
pressing, is printed below (p. 107). The queen's answer
Parliament: Privilege. xcv
(p. 109) amounted to a distinct refusal to show her hand.
On these occasions, when we consider the imperious cha-
racter of Elizaljeth and the critical nature of the times, it
will be allowed that the House displayed some boldness and
the queen an exemplary patience. But when in 1566
Parliament manifested its intention to persist in putting
pressure on her, she could bear it no longer. She began
by intimating her dislike of their proceedings, and finding
her hints disregarded, she peremptorily stopped the debate
(p. 118). It was in vain that Paul Wentworth raised the
question of privilege. The queen had the good sense to
revoke her formal prohibition, but her displeasure was so
strongly expressed that the matter was allowed to drop.
At the close of the session the Commons received a severe
scolding from the sovereign in person for their inopportune
and hazardous persistence '.
The middle period of the reign, as it was the most critical
for the safety of the country, was also that in which liberty
of speech was most likely to be resti'ained. At the opening
of Parliament in 1571, the Lord Keeper, after indicating the
subjects which required attention, took occasion, in answer
to the Speaker's request for privileges, to intimate plainly
(p. 1 1 9) that the House would not be allowed to str.ay beyond
these bounds. The threat was followed by the inhibition of
Mr Strickland, who had ventured to move for a committee
on ecclesiastical matters and subsequently to introduce a
bill 'for the reformation of the Book of Common Prayer.'
This high-handed act aroused so much resentment (p. 119)
that Strickland was allowed to return to his place, but the
queen had her way with respect to the bill. In the same
session another member, Mr Bell, who had called attention
to the abuse of licenses, was summoned before the Council and
reprimanded ^, while a bill of attainder which was being
prepared against Mary Queen of Scots was stayed by order
of the crown. The Lord Keeper wound up the session with
' D'Ewes Journals, p, 1 16. .* Ih., p. 242.
xcvi Introduction.
a speech In which the ' audacity and presumption ' of certain
members was severely blamed. The conduct of the govern-
ment in this session, and in that of 1572 (p. 120, and above,
p. Ixvi), led Peter Wentworth to make a formal remonstrance
in the Parliament of 1576 (p. 120), but all he gained by his
courageous protest was a month's imprisonment in the Tower
by order of the House itself. It was by the queen's inter-
vention that he was at length released. Sir W. Mildmay,
speaking on this occasion (p. 122), made a distinction between
liberty and licence, which obviously left it in the discretion
of the government to draw the line where it pleased. In
1587 Wentworth returned to the charge, and drew up
a series of questions (p. 123) intended to clear the way for
the discussion of certain proposals made by Mr Cope, touching
alterations in the Prayer-Book. It is hardly necessary to
say that these questions were not put to the House. The
revised book and the bill intended to secure its adoption
were sent for by the queen, and Cope and his supporters,
after an interview with the Privy Council, were committed
to the Tower. The same policy was pursued in 1593, when
Wentworth and three other members were imprisoned for
approaching the House of Lords with a view to a joint
petition for the settlement of the succession, while Mr Morriee
was secluded for presenting a bill for the reformation of the
church-courts ^ These despotic proceedings showed the
determination of the government to maintain the limita-
tions set by the Lord Keeper in his speech at the opening
of Parliament (p. 124). The petition for judgement against
Mar}' Queen of Scots, which was presented in 1586 (p. 109),
with the passages that followed, form no real departure from
the rule, for it is clear that at this time Elizabeth was not
unwilling to undergo the pressure which she resented in
1572, while her curt and imperious answer (p. in) proves
her resolution, in spite of this partial concession, to keep
the final decision in her own hands.
These repeated repressions of parliamentary activity
^ D' Ewes' -Jownals, pp. 470, 478, 497.
Parliament: Privilepe. xcvii
&"
generally acquiesced in or at most but feebly resented, show
that freedom of speech had made little progi'ess during the
sixteenth century. But the respect for the crown, the con-
fidence reposed in its policy, and the personal loyalty felt
towards the sovereign, which made Elizabeth's Parliaments
so submissive, gave way to different feelings in the following
reign. It is hardly likely that James' first Parliament,
which fought the battle of privilege so stoutly in the cases
of Goodwin and Shirley, would have tamely submitted had
the king restricted their liberty of speech in the peremj)tory
manner of his predecessor. But a good understanding was
on the whole maintained during the early part of the reign,
and no collisions of this kind occurred. The first attack on
liberty of speech was made in 1614, after the dissolution of
what was known as the Addled Parliament. That assembly
had obstinately refused to grant supplies unless the king
would abandon his claim to impositions. Finding the king
immoveable, they attacked the courtiers and the favourites.
It was indicative at once of James' timidity and of his unwis-
dom that he did not check the leaders of the opposition
while the House was sitting, but punished them when
nothing was to be gained. After Parliament had broken
up, the more violent speakers were sent to the Tower ;
others were ordered to remain in London ; others again
were struck off the commission of the peace. In 1621
James went further. The first session of that year was in
the main successful and harmonious, but the king showed
his displeasure against Sandys, who had already suffered in
1 614, by imprisoning him during the adjournment. When
the House met again, questions were asked as to the cause of
his detention. In an arrogant and ill-tempered message
(p. 310) James not only declared his intention of punishing
any member whose conduct might appear to him to merit
punishment, but forbade the House to proceed with the dis-
cussion of foreign affairs, respecting which they had already
drawn up a petition (p. 307). The reply of the Commons
(p. 311) was temperate but firm. They insisted on their
g
xcviii Introduction.
right to discuss foreign affairs, and on the recognition of
liberty of speech as their 'undoubted inheritance' (cf. p. 288).
On this point James joined issue. His remark — * set chairs
for the ambassadors ' — made on the arrival of the pailiamen-
tary deputies, showed that he was not blind to the fact that
Parliament had, whether it knew it or not, assumed the
position of an independent power. From this position
he was resolved to drive them. His rejoinder (p. 312)
challenged the rights which they had claimed, and asserted
that their privileges, far from being heritable possessions,
depended merely on the sovereign's grace. Such an asser-
tion was destructive of the objects for which Parliament
existed. The famous protest of 1 62 1 (p. 3 1 3) was the result.
It was in vain that the king tore it from the book : it
remained engraved on the heart of the nation. The im-
prisonment of Coke and other leading members was equally
futile : in the Parliament of 1624 James was forced to yield
all that the Parliament of 1621 had demanded. More than
half a century elapsed before the final victory was won, but
the Long Parliament, the Kevolution, and the Bill of Eights
merely developed and established the principles on which
the men of 1621 had taken their stand.
IV.
Council, Ministers and Star-Chamber.
If the control over legislation and taxation was mainly in
the hands of Parliament, the command of the executive
belonged exclusively to the sovereign, acting either alone or
through the Council. Over this body Parliament had no
control. The fact that Privy Councillors were almost alwaj-s
members of one or other House was not, in the period
under review, a means whereby the larger body could
influence the smaller : on the contraiy, it enabled the
Council more easily to sway the mind and guide the actions
77?^ Privy Council. xcix
of Parliament. How much influence the Council could bring
to bear upon the crown it is difficult to say. The extent of
that influence depended mainly on the personal character of
the sovereign. It was certainly larger in the days of the
Stewarts than in those of the Tudors, but even under the
most self-willed monarchs of that imperious line it must
have been considerable. For though the sovereign nomin-
ated the members of the Council (p. 179) and personally
superintended all the higher departments of State, he was
forced, even if as watchful and laborious as Henry VIII or
Elizabeth, to leave much to his subordinates. Men of the
type of Burghley and Walsingham, Mildmay and Henry
Sydney, Knollys and Kobert Cecil, were no servile instru-
ments. Apart from the force of routine and the influence
inseparable from the management of details, the counsel and
experience of such men must have largely modified the
policy of the State. If this was the case under Elizabeth, it
was much more so under James, whose constitutional indo-
lence and carelessness left public business mostly in the
hands of ministers. The great difference between these
sovereigns, so far as their attitude towards state-officials is
concerned, lies in this, that Elizabeth, though she had her
favourites, never trusted them with supreme control,
whereas James allowed them to direct the government.
Leicester, Hatton and Essex were loaded with gifts and had
ready access to the sovereign's ear, but it was Burghley who
governed for the queen : Buckingham, on the other hand,
was Leicester and Burghley rolled into one.
The Council, or Privy Council — for these titles are indis-
criminately used — was not, during this period, a large body.
It numbered, as a rule, about seventeen or eighteen persons,
most of whom were high officers of State. Its members
took a special oath (p. 165). The only survival of the old
'concilium ordinarium' as distinguished from the inner,
confidential body, the Privy Council, which had gradually
engrossed its functions, is to be found in the existence of
certain legal quasi-councillors, ' the Queen's Counsel learned
g2
c Introduction.
in the law ' (pp. 167, 403), whose advice or assistance might
be required in legal matters, but who otherwise had no part
in the business of the Council. Under Elizabeth the coun-
cillors were, with rare exceptions, laymen : even under
James I the clerical element was small and comparatively
unimportant. The Church had now resigned all claim upon
the great temporal offices : no churchman held such offices
under Elizabeth ; Bishop Williams, who became Lord
Keeper in 1621, was the only exception under James I.
Among the great officers, the Lord Chancellor still possessed
a technical precedence. The great seal was occasionally put
in commission, but only for short intervals. A Lord Keeper
often appears instead of the chancellor, but this made no
practical difference, for, by an Act of 1563 (5 Eliz. 18, p. 441),
their authority was declared identical. The political in-
fluence of the chancellor was, however, not what it had
once been : the position of the first minister, if it is not
premature to use the phrase, was held by others, sometimes
by the treasurer, sometimes even (as was the case with the
Cecils) by the secretaiy. In James' reign the Treasury,
like the Chancery, was sometimes put in commission.
Of the other great officers nothing need here be said, but
the office of Secretary, or Principal Secretaiy, deserves more
than passing notice. These officers — for at this time there
were generally two — were characteristic instruments of the
Tudor system. Their origin, indeed, lies much further
back, but their political importance dates from the establish-
ment of the Tudor autocracy, and is indicative, we might
almost say, of the beginning of government in the modern
sense. During the Middle Ages life was simple, and govern-
ment was largely a matter of laissez-faire : it was for the most
part occasional and spasmodic, negative rather than positive,
coercive rather than educational. It consisted chiefly in
collecting taxes, suppressing rebellions, and maintaining the
authority of the common law. The relations with foreign
powers were broken and irregular : permanent embassies were
unknown. But with the Tudors life became more complex,
Ministers and the Council. ci
foreign affairs more engrossing, and government entered on a
new phase. It became universal, constant and penetrative : it
began to regulate, with increasing minuteness, the ordinaiy
affairs of life ; it added dii-ection to control. Legislation
grew by leaps and bounds. New machinery was invented,
or old machinery expanded, to execute the laws ; while the
free spaces left by statute were constantly narrowed by
ordinance and proclamation. In this development the
Council took the chief part, and in the work of the Council
the secretaiy became more and more indispensable. The
ancient departments, the Church, the Law, the Revenue,
the Court, the Navy, might be left to the old officials
— the Archbishops and Bishoj^s, the Chancellor and the
Judges, the Treasurer and the Chancellor of the Excheqvier,
the Steward, the Admiral, with their ancient courts and
their new assistants — but local government, industry and
trade, the colonies, Ireland, and above all the diplomatic
relations with foreign States, required constant attention.
For these matters the sovereign was primarily responsible,
but it was chiefly through the secretary that he exercised
his supervision. Through this channel he conveyed his
pleasure to the heads of departments, to the Lords-Lieu-
tenant, to the Councils of the North and of Wales, to the
Lord Deputy in Ireland, to the ambassadors abroad. The
secretary was responsible for the minutes of the Council, and
was expected to act as a repository of all useful information.
Some of his multifarious duties are noted in a memorandum
printed below (p. i66). His oifice is the germ from which the
great secretarial departments of the present day have sprung.
The powers of the Council in its corporate capacity were
so wide and various that anything like a full description of
them would require a separate treatise. It has been rightly
said that the period of the Tudorsand the early Stewarts was
the 'period of government by Council.' In other words, it
was in and through the Council that the absolute monarchy
performed its work. Representing the sovereign, who was
always supposed to be present there (j). 183), the Council
cii Introduction.
supen'ised the administration of the laws, regulated trade
and wages, banished rogues, dealt with obstinate recusants,
granted licences to travel, restricted the press, administered
oaths of allegiance, reprimanded juries, kept an eye on the
law-courts, the justices of the jjeace, and the great Councils
of the North and Wales, and even to some extent controlled
the Church. It deliberated on all affairs of State, searched
out plots, took measures to suppress rebellions in Ireland or
to repel an invasion of the coasts, called out the national
forces and directed the movements of the fleet. It was con-
stituted, with the addition of certain other persons, a council
of regency in the case of the queen's sudden death (p. 8i).
In its right to issue orders or ordinances, e. g. for the censor-
ship of the press, it possessed a semi-legislative power :
through its commercial regulations, its management of loans
and benevolences, and its determination of military liabilities,
it shared control over taxation : finally it possessed a wide-
spread and peculiarly despotic jurisdiction.
This jurisdiction was partly appellate, partly original.
The supreme jurisdiction of the king in Council was, as
Bacon says (p. 408), through all the changes and develop-
ment of the judicial system, alwaj's reserved. The appellate
jurisdiction of the Council in ci\'il cases does not seem to
have been seriously objected to, and, surviving the Long
Parliament, has continued till the present day. Its original
criminal jurisdiction was of far greater constitutional im-
portance and requires longer notice. Many complaints had
been made against it in the fourteenth centuiy, but in the
early part of the Lancastrian period the control which
Parliament obtained over the Council modified this jealousy,
and Acts were passed (e.g. 13 Hen. IV. 7 ; 2 Hen. V. (i)
8, confirmed by 19 Hen. VII. 13) which conferred upon it
statutory powers to punish riots. These powers were
extended in 1453 (3^ Hen. VI. 2), so as to cover other
misdemeanours. The famous Act of 1487 (3 Hen. VII. i)
is therefore no isolated phenomenon, but is to be con-
sidered in connexion with the foregoing statutes. It created
The Court of Star-Chamber. ciii
a new court, consisting of certain great officials and other
members of the Council, with two judges, and endowed it
with large but specific powers. This is the court afterwards
known as the Star-Chamber, and abolished in 1641. The
Act of 1487, while setting up this new machinery, did not
repeal the above-mentioned Acts, or in any way limit the
jurisdiction, partly customary, partly statutory, exercised
by the Council. For some time the Council and the court
remained quite distinct, and their jurisdictions, though at
least partially overlapping, were exercised concurrently.
Since three-fourths of the members of the court were Privy
Councillors, this need not have led to any collision. That
the court of 1487 existed in its original form down to the
year 1529 is clear from an Act of that year (21 Hen. VIII.
20), by which its jurisdiction was confirmed, and the Presi-
dent of the Council added to it.
But about the middle of the sixteenth centuiy an im-
portant change took place in its composition. The Star-
Chambei', as we know it in Elizabeth's reign and subse-
quently, is no longer the small body constituted in 1487,
but a court consisting of all the members of the Pri^y
Council together with the two chief justices. This is clear
not only from the evidence of contemporary writers (pp. 175,
180, 182, 403, 408), but from many incidental allusions,
and from the records of the court. These records^ show
that, while the court was sometimes smaller in respect of
numbers than that constituted in 1487, it was generally
much larger, and that a bishop was not by any means
always present. This discrepancy has led some eminent
writers to conclude, that the court established in 1487 was
not the Star-Chamber, that it ceased to exist about the
middle of the sixteenth century, and consequently that the
Star-Chamber (that is, the court known by that name in
the reign of Elizabeth and afterwards) could not base any
^ Some notes from Charles I's reign are published in 'Cases in the
Star-Chamber and High Commission,' Camden Society, 1886.
civ Introduction.
of its jurisdiction on the Act of 1487 \ But theie does not
appear to be sufficient ground for this conclusion, and it is
opposed to the tradition of the sixteenth century, which, in
a matter of so recent date, may probably be trusted. The
Act of 1487, though no name is mentioned in the body of
the Act, is headed 'Pro Camera Stellata.' This phrase might
be taken to imply that the ' Camera Stellata ' already ex-
isted, and that the Act merely confirmed and expanded its
jurisdiction (cf. 175, 408); but however this may be, we may
certainly infer that, at the time when the Act in question
was enrolled, the court Avhich it created was regarded as ' the
Court of Star-Chamber. ' The Statute of Ketainers, passed in
1503 (19 Hen. VII. 14, § 6) mentions the jurisdiction of 'the
Lord Chancellor of England ... in the Star-Chamber' as
concurrent for the purposes contemplated in the Act with
the jurisdictions of ' the King and his Council ' and the
* King in his Bench.' A Statute of 1536 (28 Hen. VIII. 10,
§§ 4j 5) orders that certain offenders shall be bound over to
appear ' before the King and his Council in the Star-
Chamber at Westminster,' and that the bonds for their
appearance are to be certified 'into the Star-Chamber.' It
may perhaps be inferred from this Act that the expansion
spoken of above had already taken place. That in 1563
the court was believed to have had, so far, a continuous and
unbroken existence, is proved by a Statute of that year
(5 Eliz. 9, § 7), which provides 'that this Act . . . shall not
. . . restrain the power given by Act of Parliament made
in the time of Henry VII to the Lord Chancellor and others
of the King's Council for the time being, to examine and
punish riots [&c.] : which Lord Chancellor and others since
the making of the said Act have most commonly used to
hear and determine such matters in the court at West-
minster commonly called the Star-Chamber.'
These extracts seem conclusive of the point that the court
* Hallam, Cotist. Hisi., i. 54 note; but cf. Stiibbs, Lectures, p. 362;
Gneist, Verf. gesch., p. 508.
The Court of Star-Chamber. cv
established in 1487 was historically identical with the court
known in Elizabeth's reign as the Star-Chamber, and the
conclusion is confirmed by all contemporary writers on the
subject. In default of clear evidence it seems reasonable to
suppose that, at some time between 1529 and the earlier
part of Elizabeth's reign — perhaps even before 1547 — by
some process of which we have no record, whether by an
ordinance of the crown similar to that of 1529, or by
a gradual and unobserved amalgamation with the larger
body, the composition of the couii underwent a change.
The fact that the Council and the court exercised very
similar jurisdictions, and that the court was at first little
more than a committee of the Council (cf. p. 182), facilitated
this process. When once the Privy Councillors, as a body,
had come to be regarded as ex-officio members of the Star-
Chamber, it was only natural that the Council should gradually
transfer its criminal jurisdiction to the latter. The two bodies
(with the exception of the justices) being now identical, it
mattered little in which capacity, as Councillors or as Star-
Chamber judges, their members discharged their judicial
functions ; and since there was a better statutory foundation
for the jurisdiction of the Star-Chamber than for that of the
Council, Avhile in the former they had, what they had not
in the latter — the assistance of legal advisers — it was more
convenient to discharge those functions in the Star-Chamber.
The relation between the Privy Council and the Star-Chamber
during the period under review thus resembles very closely
that which existed between the Curia Regis and the Ex-
chequer in the early part of the reign of Henry II.
But the change described above laid the court open to
legal objections which were eventually fatal. The old dislike
of the conciliar jurisdiction, though it was latent during
the Tudor times, had never been altogether appeased, and
it revived in the sixteenth century. Now only a part, and
that probably the smaller part, of the jurisdiction exercised
l)y the Star-Chamber in the seventeenth century could be
based on the Act of 1487. It was on this ground that
cvi Introduction.
Chambers in 1629 resisted its judgement. The Exchequer,
holding that the Star-Chamber existed long before 1487,
and therefore did not depend for its jurisdiction on the Act
of Henry VII, rejected the plea. In this decision they took
the line ah-eady taken by authorities so diverse as Coke
(p. 401) and Bacon (p. 408). Those great lawyers may
have been incorrect in saying that the ' Court of Star-
Chamber,' that is, a court known by that name, existed
before the Tudors ; but they are right in their main con-
tention that the court as they knew it, that is the Privy
Council in its judicial capacity, could trace its jurisdiction
to a far earlier date. Nevertheless the lawyers of the Long
Parliament, when they abolished the Star-Chamber, justified
their action on the ground that it had exceeded the powers
conferred upon it by the Act of 1487. Some confusion in
regard to the antiquity of the name of the court has been
caused by the fact that, so far back as the reign of
Edward III, a room called the Star-Chamber, the cJianibre
des ctoiles, was used by the Council, whether sitting judicially
or otherwise ; while in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries the Council transacted much of its non-judicial
business in the same room (e. g. p. 168).
The jurisdiction of the court, and its method of procedure
when at the height of its activity and the zenith of its
power, are too well known to require discussion here. They
are described in the passages printed below, and illustrated
by every history of the time." It is worth while, however,
to call attention to the fact that, at least till the end of the
fifteenth century, the court was neither regarded with
dislike nor charged with illegality. Histoi'ians like Camden,
lawyers like Coke, statesmen like Smith, philosophers like
Bacon, country gentlemen like Lambard, combine in its
praise. In the reign of Elizabeth it was looked upon not
as an instrument of tyranny but as the guardian of order,
while even in that of James I, a very large part of the busi-
ness that came before it arose from suits brought by private
persons. It was not till the king and the nation were at
The Judicature. cvii
variance that it was used to maintain a hateful despotism.
It is even possible that, had it kept cleai' of ecclesiastical
affairs, it might have escaped the fate that overtook it in
1 64 1. It was apparently Whitgift who first led it into
these thorny paths. Under his influence, and subsequently
under that of Laud, it sometimes dealt with cases which
ought, if dealt with at all, to have been dealt with by the
High Commission, and thus religious feeling had no little
share in the ruin of an institution which had been called
into being to suppress baronial anarchy.
The Judicature.
The constitutional importance of the judicial system in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries may be inferred from
the following considerations. The old province of the
common-law courts was not only narrowed by the equitable
jurisdiction of the Chancery and (till 1599) of the Court of
Requests, but it was invaded on several sides by the later
developments of the ecclesiastical tribunals. It was further
encroached uj^on by the Star-Chamber, by the local courts
framed on the model of that institution, and by other courts
such as the Admiralty. The growing jurisdiction of the
justices of the peace, while it conduced to the maintenance
of law, lightened the duties and diminished the importance
of the justices of assize. Again, the common-law courts
were used by the Stewarts to support their claim to absolute
authoi'ity, especially in regard to financial exactions, and
judges such as Coke and Crew, who refused to further the
wishes of the crown, were liable to dismissal. Closely
connected with this was the practice, often adopted by the
two first Stewarts, of consulting the judges about consti-
tutional questions in an extra-judicial manner, a method
obviously open to grave abuses. The rules of common-
law were occasionally set aside in favour of parliamentary
cviii Introduction.
privileges, or temporarily suspended by the establishment of
martial law in particular districts or for certain classes of
persons. They were repeatedly strained or violated by the
high-handed action of great officials or members of the
Privy Council, by the evasions of statutes and the creation
of special tribunals in political trials, and by the subsei-vience
or intimidation of juries. Lastly, the great extension of the
law of treason placed many persons in danger of their lives
for acts which were not previously treasonable or which
were unlikely to be committed except in circumstances
peculiar to the Tudor and Stewart times.
An account of the ancient Supreme Courts, the King's
Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Exchequer, together
with the High Court of Chancery, which underwent no
important changes during this period, would be out of
place here. It is worth a passing mention that the Court
of Bequests, a sort of poor-man's Chancery, presided over
by the Lord Pri-\y Seal, was in 1599, after an existence of
some two centuries, declared by the court of King's Bench
to have no judicial powers. In spite of this decision, which
illustrates the very insecure foundation on which a large
l^art of the Tudor system stood, the extant records of the
court show that it continued to act until the Long Parlia-
ment. Much importance has been attached to the fact that
the judges of the High Courts of Justice retained office ' at
the good pleasure ' of the crown. That this was not always
the case is shown by the Commission to Baron Flowerdue,
printed below (p. 143) ; and Coke (Inst. IV. 117) tells us
that the Chief Baron always held office on a permanent
tenure. But, whether the judges held durante heneplaclto or
quandiu bene se gcsserint, no such distinction is likely to have
stood in the way of theii- dismissal, for, after all, the ques-
tion whether they had 'behaved themselves well' or not
could be decided only by the sovereign. It should be
mentioned here that a court of appeal from the King's Bench
called the Court of Exchequer-Chamber, and consisting of
the Justices of the Common Pleas and the Barons of the
The Judicature. cix
Exchequer was established in 1585 (27 Eliz, 8). A similar
court for appeals from the Exchequer was created in 1589
(31 Eliz. i). For some purposes, e.g. in the post-nati case
and in that of Hampden, all twelve judges were associated
together. The commissions of ' Oyer and Terminer ' and
'Gaol Delivery,' under which the justices went on circuit,
are printed below (pp. 361, 363). For this purpose the
English counties were now divided into six circuits, and
the justices of both benches, with the Barons of the Ex-
chequer and the Lord Chancellor, were employed. It was
probably to facilitate their participation in these duties that
the Barons of the Exchequer were in Elizabeth's reign
placed on a level with the justices of either bench (cf.
!>• 143).
One of the most striking features of the Tudor system
was the large number of courts possessing special jurisdic-
tion or dealing with limited districts. Several of these were
established in the sixteenth century, but some were of
older date. One group of these courts was associated with
certain great officers, such as the Lord Steward of the
Household, the Lord Admiral (see below, p. cxii), and the
Earl Marshal. Another group dealt with special branches
of the revenue : such were the Court of Augmentations and
the Court of First-fruits and Tenths, the outcome of the
Reformation, and the Court of Wards and Liveries, which
maintained the feudal rights of the crown. A third group
consisted of the older palatine and local courts, the Courts
of the Duchy of Lancaster and the County of Chester, and
the Stannary Courts in the Duchy of Cornwall. The forest-
courts, which still mamtained a certain jurisdiction over
considerable tracts of country, are among the oldest of these
local tribunals.
But none of these special courts was so important or so
characteristic of the Tudor times as the courts of the Presi-
dent and Council in the North Parts and of the President
and Council of Wales and the Marches. The Council of
the North was set up in 1539, but appears to have had no
ex Introduction.
statutory basis. It was, however, recognized in an Act of
1540 (32 Hen. YIII. 50), and also in one of 1571 (13 Eliz.
13). The Council of Wales existed before 1542, but was
confirmed by Act of Parliament in that year (34 Hen. VIII.
26). Both institutions, it must be allowed, had some
original justification in the circumstances of the districts
over which they ruled. The lawlessness of the Scottish
border is well known, and special measures for the main-
tenance of order in these unruly districts were not un-
frequently legalized by Act of Parliament (pp. 105, 270).
The union of 1 603 did not by any means immediate^ put
a stop to the evil (p. 269). Moreover the whole of the
North was in a backward condition and more or less tumul-
tuous. In this district — not to go further back than the
sixteenth centuiy — originated the Pilgrimage of Grace in
1536 and the rebellion of the Northern Earls in 1569. The
condition of the Welsh border had been in former days as
bad as that of the Scotch, and though the principality had
become so far civilized as to be represented in Parliament,
it was still regarded as a half conquered country, requii'ing
distinct treatment. The Act of 1542 (34 Hen. VIII. 26),
which conferred Parliamentary representation upon Wales,
also gave the King (§ 119) power 'to make laws and ordi-
nances' for that country 'at his pleasure,' and this clause
was not repealed till 1624 (p. 277). There was less excuse
for the Council of the West, erected by Statute in 1540
(32 Hen. VIII. 50) on the model of the Councils of Wales
and of the North, and tliis court had but a brief existence.
The Council of the North exercised jurisdiction over the
shires of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland,
Durham, and York. It consisted of a large number of
persons, including several ecclesiastics, but only five of its
members, exclusive of the President and Vice-President,
were bound to continual attendance. These regular atten-
dants received a salary and other allowances. The special
object of the court seems to have been the suppression of
riots and other disturbances, as well as of liveries and main-
The Council of the North. cxi
tenance and similar survivals of feudal times, which tended
to violence and injustice. But its jurisdiction, as defined
in the instructions printed below (p. 363), went far beyond
this. It was to aid the bishops and the High Commis-
sioners in the discovery and repression of recusants and in
the maintenance of uniformity and good morals, to watch
over the interests of agriculture, to protect the poor against
the rich, to supervise the pi'oceedings of justices of the
peace, to provide for the defence of the border, and gene-
rally to maintain the laws. It was empowered to inflict
almost any penalty short of death. In cases of special
difficulty or importance the President and Council were to
apply to the justices of the higher courts or to the Privy
Council, and to act according to their advice. Apart from
this last provision, they were practically independent, and
no appeal seems to have been allowed from their decisions.
In addition to the multifarious duties laid upon the members
of the Council by these instructions, they received a com-
mission containing powers to determine real and personal
actions in cases in which either party was too poor to resort
to the usual course of law. They are also found holding
ordinary sessions. Oyer and Terminer, and gaol delivery,
hearing indictments for murder and felony, and executing
felons. In this respect their powers exceeded even those of
the Star-Chamber.
The instructions issued to the Council of Wales (p. 378)
are very similar. This body contained nearly twice as many
members as the northern court, but the number of regular
paid councillors is the same. Special powers were granted
to determine real and personal actions, subject to certain
limitations, and to reinstate persons violently ousted from
their lands. The jurisdiction of the couit covered not only
the whole of Wales, but also the five border-counties of
Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, Monmouth, and Shrop-
shire. Its control over four of these counties was objected to
by Parliament in 1610 (p. 307), and was attacked by Coke
(Inst. IV. 242), but was apparently maintained until 1641,
cxii Introduction.
when both this court and that of the North, together with
the courts of the Duchy of Lancaster and the County of
Chester, were abolished by Act of Parliament (17 Car. I.
10. § 7).
One of the most remarkable of the local courts, established
like those of Wales and the North, for political objects as
well as for the maintenance of justice, was the Court of
Castle Chamber in Ireland (p. i,"o)- It was framed ex-
pressly on the model of the Star-Chamber in this country-,
aimed at similar objects, and proceeded by similar methods.
Like the Star-Chamber, it was to sit regularly twace a week
during term, to punish riots, bribery, and intimidation of
jurors, misdemeanours of sheriffs, and various other crimes,
and it could inflict any penalty short of death.
The Court of Admiralty was of greater antiquity than the
courts described above, and has survived to the present day.
In its origin it resembled the courts of the Marshal and
the Steward, but it differed from them in that its procedure
was governed by the rules of civil law. Its powers (p. 388)
extended over all subjects of the crown at sea or on board
ship, in ports at home or abroad, over the coasts up to high
water mark, and over rivers and estuaries so far as the
lowest bridge by which they were spanned. Its jurisdiction
was both civil and crimmal. It dealt with all crimes and
misdemeanours committed at sea or elsewhere within its
province, and it could inflict capital punishment or any
smaller penalty. It also heard and determined disputes
between master-mariners and sailors, or between ship-
owners and merchants, cases arising out of contracts made
or to be performed over seas, and similar matters. From
its civil decisions there lay an appeal by application to the
Court of Chancery, to a special Court of Delegates, appointed
by the crown as occasion arose. This system of appeals,
which formed a model for the Court of Delegates in ecclesi-
astical matters established by Henry VIII (above, p. xxxviii),
was confirmed by Act of Parliament in 1565 (8 Eliz. 5).
The jurisdiction of the justices of the peace dates from
77?^ Justices of the Peace. cxiii
about the middle of the fourteenth century. The knights
and country gentlemen, who before that time had acted as
a sort of high constables for the maintenance of public
order, then received authority to act as judges in the less
important cases that came before them. Their duties were
largely increased by the administrative functions laid upon
them in the latter part of the same century, especially in
connexion with the Statutes of Labourers. Under these
three heads, police, justice, and administration, their later
activities may be grouped. The commissions of the peace,
printed below (pp. 144, 147), indicate by the order of the
paragraphs the historical development of their judicial
powers. Their duties grew so rapidly that the older form
of the commission was out of date long before 1590, when
another form was adopted. The principal alterations consist
in the substitution of a general clause for the enumeration of
particular statutes in § i , in the omission of § 3 of the older
commission, and in the extension of the provision for the
resei-vation of certain cases (§ 5 before, § 4 after 1590) for
the justices of assize. It is somewhat remarkable that
even the later form omits all mention of theu" adminis-
trative duties. The oath taken by the justices is printed
below (p. 149).
In the Tudor times and subsequently, the justices of the
peace formed an indispensable element in the judicial and
administrative system of the country. Their functions
under these two aspects cannot practically be separated :
the administrative duties constantly involved the judicial.
In the justices, as Sir Thomas Smith rightly says (p. 179), the
prince put his special trust : without them, the government
of the Tudors and the Stewarts could not have been carried
on for a single day. Their records, during the period, are
scanty, and little light has as yet been thrown upon the
exact nature of their proceedings, but it is easy to see, if
only by the ' stacks of statutes ' which, as Lambarde says,
were laid upon their shoulders, how large a part they
played in the CommonAvealth. They were, and could be,
h
cxiv Introduction.
under little control, and they discharged their oneroiis
duties, for the mo§t part, without pecuniary reward — for
the only allowance that they received was for their services
under the Statute of Apprentices (p. 53). They got — what
no doubt they wanted more than money — power, and they
acquired what was still more important for the consti-
tutional development of the country, an excellent political
training. This interdependence of rights and duties is
indicative of what was best in the political system of the
sixteenth century. Nothing could so well have prepared
the country gentry and the burgesses of the great towns for
the share they were to take in the Parliaments of the
coming age.
The justices held office under commissions from the
crown, issued from the Chancery to the leading gentry of
every county, and to the local officials for the time being,
of the cities, boroughs, and corporate towns. In many
statutes the mayor, aldermen, or bailiffs of such towns are
empowered to act as justices. Among them were named
certain legal members, the 'quorum,' whose presence on
the more important occasions was indispensable. Although
any single justice had the power of committal, no judicial
decision could be taken by less than two. The less weighty
matters were handled in their frequent petty sessions, the
more important in their greater or quarter sessions held
four times a year. As commissioners of Oyer and Terminer,
many of them sat with the justices of assize. Their primary
duty was to keep the peace, to suppress sedition, riots, and
minor disturbances, and to enforce the observation of the
Statute of Liveries and other Acts of Parliament, The
great development of statute-law in the sixteenth century,
touching, as it did, most departments of local government,
placed many fresh duties in their hands. They carried out
the various enactments concerning labour and industry,
especially the Statute of Apprentices j)assed in 1563
(5 Eliz. 4). Under these acts they fixed the rate of
wages, bound over apprentices, and settled disputes between
The Justices of the Peace. cxv
master and man. Acting under other statutes they pro-
tected the interests of agriculture, prevented the conversion
of arable land into pasture, and called in compulsoiy labour
when required. The execution of the Poor Law, developed
by many Elizabethan statutes, especially the great Acts of
1598 and 1 601 (39 & 40 Eliz. 3 ; 43 & 44 Eliz. 2), depended
almost entirely upon them. They appointed overseers of
the poor, erected and superintended poor-houses, fixed the
poor-rate and enforced its collection, rated the parishes for
relief to poor prisoners, transmitted paupers to their homes,
and licensed begging at discretion. Closely connected with
the poor-law on one side, and with the labour-statutes on
the other, was the legislation touching rogues and vagabonds.
Previous statutes on this subject were summarised and
amended by the Act of 1598 (39 & 40 Eliz. 4) and further
amended in the following reign (i Jas. I. 7 ; 7 & 8 Jas. I. 4).
Under these Acts, the justices set up houses of correction,
enforced labour, instituted house-to-house visitations, exe-
cuted the sanguinary penalties of the law, and even trans-
ported offenders out of the countiy. Another section of
their duties was connected with the penal laws against
Eomanists and Dissenters. They discovered and reported
recusants, tried offences against the Act of Uniformity and
similar Acts, administered the oath of allegiance, broke up
conventicles, and searched the houses of recusants for arms
and superstitious relics. There was little indeed, whether
in town or country, that escaped the surveillance of the
justices of the peace : they nipped treason in the bud, and
a country parson had to obtain their licence before he could
many (p. 187 and index).
It is clear that a judicial system, so complex and incon-
gruous as that of the Tudors, must have suffered from great
defects. There were, no doubt, many failures of justice and
frequent conflicts of jurisdiction. But on the whole it
seems clear that ordinaiy justice was better done between
man and man, that crime was more rapidly and surely
punished, and general order more strictly maintained than
h 2
cxvi Introduction.
in any previous age. The darker side of the picture is
shown when we regard the violations of private liberty and
the distortions or evasions of the law which were permitted
to persons in high places, and still more when we examine
the manner in which political trials were conducted and
penalties inflicted without trial on political offenders. Of
the former class of abuses we have, perhaps naturally,
but little detailed information. But, not to mention Star-
Chamber prosecutions and committals by order of the Privy
Council, out of the ordinary course of law, we have evidence
to show that single officials and noblemen in favour were in
the habit of grossly abusing their position for private ends.
The evil must have been veiy flagrant to provoke such
a remonstrance as that of the judges in 1591 ^ In such
cases as those alluded to, writs of Habeas Corpus became
a mockery, and humble claimants were deprived of their
rights without the possibility of a fair trial. It should be
observed, however, and remembered in connexion with
Darnel's case, that the judges raised no objection against
committals ' per speciale mandatum regis, ' or by the Council
as a body.
The tyrannical expansion and the rapid oscillations of the
law of treason were due to the peculiar and varying circum-
stances of the age. The law on this subject is to be observed
under two aspects — the legal conception of the crime and
the method of procedure. Under Henry VIII the changes
in the law are mostly traceable to two sources, the desii'e to
establish the ecclesiastical supremacy, and the uncertainty
of the succession. The new treasons created in that reign
were afterwards abolished, then partially revived, and again
repealed, before Elizabeth came to the throne. In her
reign, as the succession was never settled, that cause for the
invention of treasons fell away. But it was necessaiy to
maintain the royal power, and especially the ecclesiastical
' Printed by Hallam (Const. Hist, i. 234), from Lansd. MSS. Ixviii.
(not Iviii. 87. The words in the last section but one, which he omits,
are ' any of.' In § 2 (last word), for 'accusation ' read 'execution.'
Treason. cxvii
supremacy, against all opponents. Hence the frequent
enlargements of the definition of treason, mostly aimed
against the supporters of the Pope, with which the penal
statutes both of Elizabeth and James abound. But the
definition was extended in other directions as well, notably
by the Acts of 1571, 1572, and 1581 (13 Eliz. i ; 14 Eliz. i ;
23 Eliz. 2), so as to comprehend various actions not hitherto
held to be treasonable. In spite of these changes, the law
during this period never attained anything like the extrava-
gant extension or the inquisitorial character which made it
so monstrous an engine of intimidation under Henry VIII.
In the reign of James I it underwent but little change.
Setting aside the acts of attainder, which were non-
judicial, and impeachments, of which there were none for
treason during this period, trials for treason were held, in
the case of commoners, before an ordinary court, with a
juiy ; in the case of peers, before a'special court formed of
members of their own body. Some twenty to twenty-five
peers were generally selected for this purpose. They were
presided over by the Lord High Steward, whose office,
otherwise extinct, was revived for such occasions. During
the period under review the procedure was, or should have
been, governed by the Statute of 1552, which provided that
the prisoner should be confronted by two witnesses, to
prove the criminal act. But this Statute was ignored or
evaded on more than one occasion ; torture was constantly
employed, both on witnesses and accused, to extort evidence ;
and, even if the proofs were insufficient, juries specially
empanelled or liable to punishment were veiy unlikely not
to convict. The case of the Duke of Norfolk in 1572
(p. 138) is a striking example of the unfairness with which,
in spite of the supposed safeguard of a court of peers, the
trials of the greatest nobles were conducted. The duke
was repeatedly examined in private ; he was kej^t in prison
for more than four months, without any communication
with his friends ; he knew nothing of the charges against
hun till the indictment was read ; he was refused the assis-
cxviii Introdudioti.
tance of counsel; the witnesses against him were not pro-
duced in court ; and the whole trial lasted only one day.
His condemnation was just, but he might as well have been
condemned unheard. The trials of Essex and Arundel
were similarly conducted, and if the verdict in the former
case was justifiable, in the latter it was almost certainly
unjust. The trial of Maiy, Queen of Scots (p. i4o\ was,
like that of Queen Anne fifty years before, conducted by
a sjjecial commission. Here again, as in the case of Nor-
folk, the result was inevitable, but it was attained with a
similar disregard of legal formalities. Trials for treason were
less frequent under James I than under his predecessor,
but the fate of Arabella Stuart, Kaleigh, and Northumber-
land, not to mention the humbler Peacham, prove that the
chances in favour of political prisoners were no better than
before.
In a state of things like that which prevailed in the
sixteenth centuiy it was only natural that proclamations of
martial law, by which ordinary legal process was for a time
suspended, should be not unfrequent. The theory of the
time — if we can apply such a phrase to vague opinions,
shaped by no statutory enactments— appears to have been
that martial law could be proclaimed in time of war and
insurrection, presumably over those districts only which
were threatened or involved, but not at other times. The
military and naval forces of the country, when actually in
the field or on board ship (pp. 155, 397), were of course
permanently subject to this rule. The case of Burchett
(p. 176) illustrates this view. But though Elizabeth was
dissuaded from using her power on this occasion, at other
times she did not so refrain. A proclamation issued in
1588 ' may possibly have been in Sir Thomas Smith's mind
when he wrote the remarks printed below {p: 179). It can
hardly be doubted that the proclamation of 1595" (p. 443)
was quite unwarrantable. Commissions such as that of
' Hallam, Const. Hist., i. 241.
2 cf. Hallam, iUd.
Army and Navy. cxix
1624 (p. 398), which embraced not only soldiers but other
persons, were little better. On the other hand, objections
can hardly be raised against the permission to Lords-
Lieutenant (p, 155) to use martial law in time of invasion
except in so far as the vagueness of the wording left the
permission open to abuse. Such commissions were also
given to captains of merchant-ships sailing to distant coun-
tries, but may have been justified on the ground that their
vessels were hardly to be distinguished from men-of-war.
Ireland being in an almost constant state of insurrection,
commissions to execute martial law were frequent there,
and give some colour to Stafford's contention that in that
country martial law was the rule.
VI.
Army and Navy.
The ancient obligation upon every freeman to be prepared
to go to war in defence of his country still held good in the
sixteenth centuiy. Developed and graduated by the Assize
of Arms and the Statute of Winchester, the national forces
were mobilised from the time of Edward I onwards under
Commissions of Array. These commissions in their later
form (p. 156) were issued by authority of the crown to
leading persons in the counties and large towns, and to
others possessing military experience, empowering them
to make lists of the able-bodied men within their districts,
to fix the arms, horses, and equipments to be provided by
each person according to his ability, and to drill and exercise
the forces so raised, in order that they might be ready to
act when and where requii*ed. The lists were to be sent in
to the Privy Council, by whose further orders and instruc-
tions the commissioners were to abide. The purpose ot
these commissions was to organize, but not actually to
bring into the field, the national militia. When required
for active service, the forces were called out by means of
cxx Introduction.
special orders (p. 158), sent to tlie Lords-Lieutenant in the
different counties, bidding them to muster such numbers of
men as were wanted, and to appoint captains over them,
under whom the men were to be ready to march at an
hour's notice to the point of rendezvous. Such men re-
ceived money for their uniforms and travelling expenses
(coat and conduct money) in addition to their i)ay.
The institution of Lords-Lieutenant was a modern one in
the time of Elizabeth. These officials were first appointed,
or at all events first legalized, under Edward VI (3 & 4
Ed. VI. 5). A similar Act was passed in the next reign
(i Mary (2) 12), and continued by Elizabeth (1 Eliz. 16),
but lapsed upon her death. It may be gathered from the
statutes that the original object for which the Lieutenants
were appointed was rather to suppress rebellion than to
repel invasion, but their powers (p. 154) were equally valid
in both emergencies. Their military authority over the
districts — one or mox-e counties — committed to their charge
was supreme. They were authorized to muster, arm, and
exercise all persons liable to militaiy service within their
provinces, to lead them against all enemies, domestic or
foreign, and in the execution of their office to use all the
severity of martial law. They wei"e to act on their own
responsibility as soon as the occasion arose, without waiting
for orders from the central authority. They were assisted
by Deputy-Lieutenants nominated by the crown, and were
empowered to appoint muster-masters and other officers.
Finally they were indemnified in advance for any actions
done by authority of their commission.
The obligation either to serve in person or to provide
otherwise for military defence lay upon all members of the
community. The proportion of arms, horses, and equip-
ments to be provided by persons of property, whether in
land or goods, was fixed by Statute (4 & 5 P. & M. 2),
and the clergy were rated on the same footing as the laity,
either for men or money. The bishops rated the inferior
clergy as well as themselves and sent in their reports to
Army and Navy. cxxi
the Privy Council (pp. 1 61-163). The Commissioners of
Array taxed the mass of the lay community. Peers and
Privy Councillors were exempted from their inspection
(p. 157), and it is possible that, in accordance with ancient
principles, the wealthier of them made special arrangements
with the crown. The Archbishop of Canterbury, however,
is found rating himself exactly in accordance with the Act
(p. 163). The Pri\y Council levied what contributions
were required ; but, just as the full number of armed men
which could be supplied by a county was seldom if ever
called out, so the full contribution does not seem to have
been usually demanded. During the whole of this period,
the Privy Council retained the immediate control of military
affairs, but an important step was taken in the appointment,
towards the end of James' reign, of a Council of War
(P- 396). This council, it is true, was empowered only to
consult together, to obtain information, and to give advice ;
but inasmuch as it comprised at least three members of the
Privy Council, it came near being a committee of that body,
and as it was composed more or less of exj^erts, it must
have exercised some influence on the Council's action. It
cannot, however, be said, when we consider the results of
the war, to have turned out a successful experiment.
The navy was manned and equipped on principles similar
to those which governed the maintenance of the army : that
is to say the obligation to defend the countiy by sea as well
as by land, was incumbent on the subject. But inasmuch as
naval warfare requires special training and experience, the
obligation' to provide for the navy and to serve in person at
sea was practically restricted to the coasts and sea-port towns.
Special duties in this respect were laid upon the Cinque
Ports, under control of the Lord Warden, who was to all
intents and purposes their Lord-Lieutenant. The naval
forces differed, however, in one essential respect from the
military. No standing army existed, but there was, and long
had been, a royal navy, built and equipped out of the royal
revenues, and manned, if necessary, by compulsory service.
cxxii Introduction.
When occasion required, as for instance at the time of the
Spanish Armada, this navy was reinforced by numerous
merchant-vessels, a method rendered easy and effective by
the fact that as yet there was but little difference between
such ships and ships of war. The obligation to supply ships
did not rest on the Cinque Ports only, but also on all other
towns possessing merchant-shipping, not excluding London.
In 1596, for instance, we find London required to provide
twelve ships and two pinnaces ' for Her Majesty's necessaiy
sei-vice.' This should be remembered in connexion with
the famous ship-money case in 1637.'
The Lord High Admiral, generally speaking, did not
himself command the fleet, for which an Admiral and Vice-
Admiral were specially appointed (pp. 163, 397). These
officers, like the Lord High Admiral (p. 390), were
empowered to requisition ships and to impress men as
occasion requu-ed, and to keep discipline by means of
martial law. They had also (p. 164) a general civil and
criminal jurisdiction over the forces under their command.
VII.
The Prerogative.
The whole of the foregoing sketch may be regarded, from
one point of view, as a commentary on the prerogative, but
a short note may be added in order to show the different
significations attached to the word, and the development of
the ideas which it involved, during this period. Under
Elizabeth prerogative was generally understood to mean the
aggregate of official rights and powers possessed by any
person in authority. Thus the order of the Ecclesiastical
Courts is said to have been settled by the Pope's prerogative
(p. 199). The Archbishop of Canterbury has his Preroga-
tive Court, in which his special privileges and jurisdiction
are maintained. The prerogative of the crown consists in
the peculiar rights, immunities, and powers enjoyed by the
The Prerogative. cxxiii
sovereign alone, including the precedence of all persons in
the realm. These privileges rest partly on statute, partly
on custom and precedent. But they are not vague and
indefinite : they are known and are capable of description.
They do not amount to an emancipation fi'om law : on the
contrary, they are limited by it. This is the view of
Bracton ; it is implied by Staunford and Smith, who set
themselves to analyze and enumerate the jjowers of the
monarchy (pp. 174, 179) ; and it is clearly stated by Selden
(p. 4 1 2) as well as by Coke (Keports, part xii. p. 299 ; ed. 1826).
Elizabeth herself uses the word in this sense (pp. 115, 116) ;
and even James I, though he also gives it a far wider meaning,
occasionally applies it in a similar manner (pp. 312, 315).
Such powers as the right of the crown to veto parliamentary
bills, to appoint and dismiss ministers, to order out the
army, to pardon prisoners, are clearly portions of the royal
prerogative.
But these recognized and definite powers do not exhaust
the rights of the crown, because circumstances may occur
which are provided for neither by law nor custom. Occa-
sions will arise in which the sovereign power must exert
itself, without previous example or authorization. It is
conceivable that on such occasions the sovereign may be
forced, in order to save the State, to over-ride the law ; at
all events he may often be called upon to act without it. Thus,
beyond the definite prerogative and outside the area occupied
by the law, there is, and must be, a vague and undefined
power to act for the good of the State. It is this indefinite
power to act 'out of the ordinary course of common law,'
which Blackstone regards (p. 410, note) as the essence of
the royal prerogative. On this lawless province, law and
custom gradually encroach, either in the interest of the
sovereign or of the subject, but within its area, if the sover-
eign and the subject come into collision, the subject must
give way. The less advanced the State, or, in other words,
the less complete the control of law and custom, the larger
will be the area over which the sovereign is free to act. It
cxxiv Introduction.
was still very large in the days of the Tudors and the
Stewarts, and as the initiative in the creation of law and
custom was then almost exclusively in the hands of the
monarch, it might well have seemed to contemporaries
(p. 289) that the ' Prerogatives of Princes' were daily grow-
ing, that is, that law and custom were constantly restricting
the indefinite area in the interest of the crown, and convert-
ing uncertainties into definite prerogative.
It was the existence of this indefinite power, and the
inevitable attachment of it to the crown, which gave some
colour to the claims of the Stewarts and their supporters in
the seventeenth century. But the immediate origin of their
theories was the necessity, not hitherto felt, of forming clear
notions of sovereignty and of defining its abode. The
writers of Elizabeth's time, for instance Sir Thomas Smith
(p. 178), declared sovereignty to reside in Parliament, that
is, in the crown and the estates, combined in one harmonious
whole. But they did not anticipate the case of a divergence
between the elements of which Parliament was composed,
such a divergence as occurred in the following reigns. If
the sovereign Parliament disagreed with itself, where did
the right of arbitration lie ? Was it in the crown, or was it
in the estates ? It is not wonderful that, in this dilemma,
many men decided for the crown. It may well have seemed
impossible to leave supreme control in the hands of a hetero-
geneous collection of atoms, totally unused to guide the
difl&cult machine of State. But those w^ho concluded that
the casting vote in such cases lay with the crown were per-
force driven further. It seemed impossible to limit the
sovereignty thus acquired. It had once been agreed that
the sovereign Parliament could make and unmake laws,
levy taxes and reform religion. If the joint Parliament
were dethroned, and the monarch stood alone in its place,
were not these powers transferred to him ? Somewhere or
other they must reside, and if not in the joint Parliament —
still less in the House of Commons — where could they
reside but in the crown ? The alternative — that they
The Prerogative. cxxv
resided in the Hovise of Commons — could not then have
been adopted in the same outspoken way. The Parliamen-
tary party were eventually forced to claim the sovereignty
in practice, but they did not, until the end of the Civil War,
claim it in words.
Thus was produced the full-blown idea of the absolute
monarchy, unrestricted by law, limited only by its own con-
ceptions of the ' salus populi, ' that is, not limited at all. It
is the theory maintained, if somewhat dimly and incon-
sistently, by James himself (pp. 294, 400), and by the judges
in Bates' case (p. 341 : cf. above, p. Ixxv) : it is pushed to its
full logical consequences by Cowell (pp. 409-411); and it
was openly preached by the absolutist divines of the follow-
ing reign (pp. 437-439). Cowell describes the prerogative
as * that especial power, pre-eminence or privilege that the
King hath above the ordinary course of the common law,'
and this was the watchword of the royalists. It required
only an alteration of one word to enable Blackstone to adopt
Cowell's definition, but in substituting the phi-ase ' out of
the ordinary course of the common law ' for that which
Cowell uses (p. 410, note), he substituted a constitutional
doctrine for one destructive of the constitution. The whole
quarrel between the Stewarts and their Parliaments lies
there.
STATUTES AND DOCUMENTS
OF
ELIZABETH AND JAMES I
CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
L— STATUTES,
First Parliament.
Jan. 23 — May 8, 1559.
I Eliz. Cap. I.
An Act restoring to the Crown the ancient jurisdiction over the
State ecclesiastical and spiritual, and abolishing all foreign
power repugnant to the same.
Most humbly beseech your most excellent Majesty your
faithful and obedient subjects, the Lords spiritual and temporal
and the Commons in this your present Parliament assembled,
That where in time of the reign of your most dear father of
worthy memory, King Henry the Eighth, divers good laws and
statutes were made and established, as well for the utter extin-
guishment and putting away of all usurped and foreign powers
and authorities out of this your realm and other your Highness'
dominions and countries, as also for the restoring and uniting
to the imperial crown of this realm the ancient jurisdictions,
authorities, superiorities and pre-eminences to the same of right
belonging and appertaining ; by reason whereof we your most
humble and obedient subjects, from the twenty-fifth year of the
reign of your said dear father, were continually kept in good
order, and were disburdened of divers great and intolerable
charges and exactions before that time unlawfully taken and
2 Elizabeth. [1559,
exacted by such foreign power and authority as before that was
usurped, until such time as all the i^aid good laws and statutes
by one Act of Parliament ^ made in the first and second years of
the reigns of the late King Philip and Queen Mary, your
Highness' sister, intituled an Act repealing all statutes, articles
and provisions made against the See Apostolic of Rome since
the twentieth year of King Henry the Eighth, and also for the
establishment of all spiritual and ecclesiastical possessions and
hereditaments conveyed to the laity, were all clearly repealed
and made void, as by the same Act of Repeal more at large
doth and may appear ; by reason of which Act of Repeal your
said humble subjects were eftsoons brought under an usurped
foreign power and authority, and yet do remain in that bondage,
to the intolerable charges of your loving subjects, if some
redress by the authority of this your High Court of Parliament,
with the assent of your Highness, be not had and provided :
May it therefore please your Highness, for the repressing of the
said usurped foreign power and the restoring of the rights,
jurisdiction and pre-eminences appertaining to the imperial
crown of this your realm, that it may be enacted by the
authority of this present Parliament ; That the said Act made
in the said first and second years of the reigns of the said late
King Philip and Queen Mary and all and every branch,
clauses and articles therein contained (other than such branches,
clauses and sentences as hereafter shall be excepted) may from
the last day of this session of Parliament, by authority of this
present Parliament, be repealed, and shall from thenceforth be
utterly void and of none effect.
II. And that also for the reviving of divers of the said good
Laws and Statutes made in the time of your said dear father,
it may also please your Highness, That one Act and Statute '^
made in the twenty-third year of the reign of the said late
King Henry the Eighth, intituled an Act that no person shall
be cited out of the diocese where he or she dwelletb, except
in certain cases ; and one other Act ^ made in the twenty-
fourth year of the reign of the said late King, intituled an
Act that appeals in such cases as hath been used to be pursued
to the See of Rome shall not be from henceforth had nor used
' ] & 2 P. & M. 8. 2 23 H. vni. 9. ^ 24 H. VIII. 12.
1559.] Act of Supremacy. 3
but within this realm ; and one other Act ^ made in the twenty-
fifth year of the said late King, concerning restraint of payment
of annates and first fruits of archbishoprics and bishoprics to
the See of Rome ; and one other Act ^ in the said twenty-fifth
year, intituled an Act concerning the submission of the clergy
to the King's Majesty; and also one Act^ made in the said
twenty-fifth year, intituled an Act restraining the payment of
annates or first fruits to the Bishop of E-ome, and of the
electing and consecrating of archbishops and bishops within
this realm ; and one other Act * made in the said twenty-fifth
year, intituled an Act concerning the exoneration of the King s
subjects from exactions and impositions heretofore paid to the
See of Rome, and for having licences and dispensations within
this realm without suing further for the same ; and one other
Act ^ made in the twenty-sixth year of the said late King,
intituled an Act for nomination and consecration of suffragans
within this realm ; and also one other Act ^ made in the twenty-
eighth year of the reign of the said late King, intituled an Act
for the release of such as have obtained pretended licences and
dispensations from the See of Rome ; and all and every branches,
words and sentences in the said several Acts and Statutes
contained, by authority of this present Parliament, from and at
all times after the last day of this session of Parliament, shall
be revived and shall stand and be in full force and strength to
all intents, constructions and purposes ; and that the branches,
sentences and words of the said several Acts and every of them
from thenceforth shall and may be judged, deemed and taken to
extend to your Highness, your heirs and successors, as fully and
largely as ever the same Acts or any of them did extend to the
said late King Henry the Eighth your Highness' father.
III. And that it may also please your Highness that it may
be enacted by the authority of this present Parliament, That so
much of one Act or Statute ^ made in the thirty-second year of
the reign 'of your said dear father King Henry the Eighth,
intituled an Act concerning pre-contracts of marriages and
touching degrees of consanguinity, as in the time of the late
- 23 H. VIII. 20 (this Act received the royal assent a. r. 25^ ^ 25 H-
VIII. 19. 3 25 H. VIII. 20. * 25 H. VIII. 21. = 26 H. VIII. 14.
6 28 H. VIII. 16. ' 32 H. VIII. 38.
B 2
4 Elizabeth. [1559.
King Edward tlie Sixth, your Highness' most dear brother, by
one other Act or Statute* was not repealed; and also one Act^
made in the thirty-seventh year of the I'eign of the said late
King Henry the Eighth, intituled an Act that Doctors of the
( /ivil Law, being married, may exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
and all and every branches and articles in the said two Acts
last mentioned and not repealed in the time of the said late
King Edwai'd the Sixth, may from henceforth likewise stand
and be revived and remain in their full force and strength to all
intents and purposes ; anything contained in the said Act of
Repeal before mentioned or any other matter or cause to the
contrary notwithstanding.
IV. And that it may also please your Highness that it may
be fui'ther enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all other
Laws and Statutes and the branches and clauses of any Act or
Statute, repealed and made void by the said Act of Repeal made
in the time of the said late King Philip and Queen Mary, and
not in this present Act especially mentioned and revived, shall
stand, remain and be repealed and void, in such like manner and
form as they were before the making of this Act ; anything
herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.
Y. And that it may also please your Highness that it may be
enacted by the authority aforesaid, That one Act and Statute ^
made in the first year of the reign of the late King Edward the
Sixth, your Majesty's most dear brother, intituled an Act
against such persons as shall unreverently speak against the
Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, commonly called
the Sacrament of the Altar, and for the receiving thereof under
l)Oth kinds, and all and every branches, clauses and sentences
therein contained, shall and may likewise from the last day of
this session of Parliament be revived and from thenceforth
shall and may stand, remain and be in full force, strength and
effect to all intents, constructions and purposes, in such like
manner and form as the same was at any time in the first year of
the reign of the said late King Edward the Sixth; any law, statute
or other matter to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.
VI. And that also it may please your Highness that it may
be further established and enacted by the authority aforesaid,
I2&3E. VI. 23. => 37 H. VIII. 17. 3 J E Yi I
1559.] Ad of Supremacy. 5
That one Act and Statute ' made in the first and second years of
the said late King Philip and Queen Mary intituled an Act
for the reviving of three Statutes ^ made for the punishment of
heresies, and also the said three Statutes mentioned in the
said Act and by the same Act revived, and all and every
branches, articles, clauses and sentences contained in the said
several Acts or Statutes and every of them, shall be from the last
day of this session of Parliament deemed and remain utterly
repealed, void and of none effect to all intents and purposes ;
anything in the said several Acts or any of them contained or
any other matter or cause to the contrary notwithstanding.
VII. And to the intent that all usurped and foreign power
and authority, spiritual and temporal, may for ever be clearly
extinguished, and never to be used nor obeyed within this
realm or any other your Majesty's dominions or countries ;
may it please yo^^r Highness that it may be further enacted by
the authority aforesaid. That no foreign prince, person, pi-elate,
state or potentate, spiritual or temporal, shall at any time after
the last day of this session of Parliament, use, enjoy or exercise
any manner of power, jurisdiction, superiority, authority, pre-
eminence or privilege, spiritual or ecclesiastical, within this
realm or within any other your Majesty's dominions or
countries that now be or hereafter shall be, but from thence-
forth the same shall be clearly abolished out of this realm and
all other your Highness' dominions for ever ; any statute,
oi-dinance, custom, constitutions or any other matter or cause
whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.
VIII. And that also it may likewise please your Highness
that it may be established and enacted by the authority
aforesaid, That such jurisdictions, privileges, superiorities and
pre-eminences, spiritual and ecclesiastical, 'as by any spiritual
or ecclesiastical power or authority hath heretofore been or
may lawfully be exercised or used for the visitation of the
ecclesiastical state and persons, and for reformation, order
and correction of the same and of all manner of errors,
heresies, schisms, abuses, offences, contempts and enormities,
shall for ever, by authority of this present Parliament, be united
and annexed to the imperial crown of this realm ; and that
' 1 & 2 P. & M. 6. 2 5 R. 11. (2). 5 : 2 H. IV. 15 : 2 H. V. (i). 7.
6 Elizabeth. [i65e.
your Highness, your heirs and successors, kings or queens of
this reahn, shall have full power and authority by virtue of
this Act, by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England,
to assign, name and authorize, when and as often as your
Highness, your heirs or successor?, shall think meet and con-
venient, and for such and so long time as shall please your
Highness, your heirs or successors, such person or persons,
being natural-born subjects to your Highness, your heirs or
successors, as your Majesty, your heirs or successors, shall think
meet, to exercise, use, occupy and execute under your Highness,
your heirs and successors, all manner of jurisdictions, privileges
and pre-eminences, in any wise touching or concerning any
spiritual or ecclesiastical jurisdiction within these your realms
of England and Ireland or any other your Highness' dominions
or countries; and to visit, reform, redress, order, cori-ect and
amend all such heresies, errors, schisms, abuses, offences, con-
tempts and enormities whatsoever, which by any manner of
spiritual or ecclesiastical power, authority or jurisdiction can or
may lawfully be reformed, ordered, redressed, corrected, restrained
or amended, to the pleasure of Almighty God, the increase of vir-
tue and the conservation of the peace and unity of this realm ;
and that such person or persons so to be named, assigned,
authorised and appointed by your Highness, your heirs or
successors, after the said Letters Patents to him or them made
and delivered as is aforesaid, shall have full power and authority
by virtue of this Act and of the said Letters Patents, under
your Highness, your heirs or successors, to exercise, use and
execute all the premisses according to the tenor and effect of
the said Letters Patents ; any matter or cause to the contrary
in any wise notwithstanding.
IX. And for the better observation and maintenance of this
Act, may it please your Highness that it may be lurther enacted
by the authorit)- aforesaid, That all and every archbishop,
bishop, and all and every other ecclesiastical person and other
ecclesiastical officer and minister, of what estate, dignity, pre-
eminence or degree soever he or they be or shall be, and all and
every tem^Doral judge, justicer, mayor and other lay or temporal
officer and minister, and every other person having your
Highness' fee or wages within this realm or any your Highness'
1559.] Ad of Supremacy. 7
dominions, shall make, take and receive a corporal oath upon
the Evangelist, before such person or persons as shall please
your Highness, your heirs or successors, under the Great Seal
of England, to assign and name, to accept and take the same ac-
cording to the tenor and effect hereafter following, that is to say :
I, A. B., do utterly testify and declare in my conscience. That
the Queen's Highness is the only supreme governor of this
realm and of all other her Highness' dominions and countries,
as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes as
temporal, and that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or
potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power,
superiority, pre-eminence or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual,
within this realm ; and therefore I do utterly renounce and
forsake all foreign jurisdictions, powers, superiorities and
authorities, and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear
faith and true allegiance to the Queen's Highness, her heirs
and lawful successors, and to my power shall assist and defend
all jurisdictions, pre-eminences, privileges and authorities granted
or belonging to the Queen's Highness, her heirs and successors,
or united or annexed to the imperial crown of this realm : so
help me God, and by the contents of this Book.
X. And that it may be also enacted, That if any such
archbishop, bishop or other ecclesiastical officer or minister
or any of the said temporal judges, justiciaries or other lay
officer or minister shall peremptorily or obstinately refuse to
take or receive the said oath, that then he so refusing shall
forfeit and lose only during his life all and every ecclesiastical
and spiritual promotion, benefice and office, and every temporal
and lay promotion and office, which he hath solely at the timo
of such refusal made ; and that the whole title, interest and
incumbency in every such promotion, benefice and other office
as against such person only so refusing during his life shall
clearly cease and be void as though the party so refusing were
dead ; and that also all and every such person and persons so
refusing to take the said oath shall immediately after such
refusal be from thenceforth during his life disabled to retain or
exercise any office or other promotion which he at the time of
such refusal hath jointly or in common with any other person
or persons ; and that all and every person and persons that at
H Elizabeth. [1559.
any time hereafter shall be ])referre(l, promoted or collated to
any archbishopric or bishopric or to any other spiritual or
ecclesiastical benefice, promotion, dignity, office or ministiy, or
that shall be by your Highness, your heirs or successors, preferred
or promoted to any temporal or lay office, ministry or service
within this realm or in any your Highness' dominions, before
he or they shall take upon him or them to receive, use, exercise,
supply or occupy any such archbishopric, bishopric, promotion,
dignity, office, ministry or service, shall likewise make, take
and receive the said corporal oath before mentioned upon the
Evangelist, before such persons as have or shall have authority to
admit any such person to any such office, ministry or service, or
else before such person or persons as by your Highness, your heirs
or successors, by commission under the Great Seal of England,
shall be named, assigned, or appointed to minister the said oath.
XI. And that it may likewise be further enacted by the
authority aforesaid. That if any such person or persons as at
any time hereafter shall be promoted, preferred or collated to
any sucli promotion sjjiritual or ecclesiastical, benefice, office or
ministry, or that by your Highness, your heirs or successors,
shall be promoted or preferred to any temporal or lay office,
ministry or service shall and do peremptorily and obstinately
refuse to take the same oath so to him to be oifered, that then
he or they so refusing shall presently be judged disabled in the
law to receive, take or have the same promotion spiritual or
ecclesiastical, the same temporal office, ministiy or service,
within this realm or any other your Highness' dominions to
all intents, constructions and purposes.
XII. And that it may be further enacted by the authority
aforesaid, That all and every person and persons temporal,
suing livery or oustre le maiue out of the hands of your
Highness, your heirs or successors, before his or their livery
or oustre le maine sued forth and allowed, and every temporal
person and persons doing any homage to your Highness, your
heirs or successors, or that shall be received into service with
your Highness, your heirs or successors, shall make, take and
receive the said corporal oath before mentioned before the
Lord Chancellor of England or the Lord Keeper of the Great
Seal for the time being, or before such person or persons as by
1559.] Ad of Supremacy. 9
your Highness, your heirs oi" successoi-s, shall be named and
appointed to accept or receive the same : and that also all
and every person and pei'sous taking orders, and all and every
other person and persons which shall be promoted or preferred
to any degree of learning in any University within this your
realm or dominions, before he shall receive or take any such
orders, or be preferred to any such degree of learning, shall
make, take and receive the said oath by this Act set forth and
declared, as is aforesaid, before his or their ordinary, commissary,
chancellor or vice-chancellor, or their sufficient deputies in the
said University.
XIII. Provided always and that it may be further enacted
by the authority aforesaid, That if any person having any
estate of inheritance in any temporal office or offices shall
hereafter obstinately and peremptorily refuse to accept and
take the said oath as is aforesaid, and after at any time during
his life shall willingly I'equire to take and receive the said oath,
and so do take and accept the same oath before any person or
persons that shall have lawful authority to minister the sauu\
that then every such person immediately after he hath so
received the same oath shall be vested, deemed and judged
in like estate and [)Ossessiou of the said office as he was befoie
the said refusal, and shall and may use and exercise the said
office in such manner and form as he should or might have done
before such refusal ; any thing in this Act contained to the
contrary in any wise notwithstanding.
XIV. And for the more sure observation of this Act, and the
utter extinguishment of all foreign and usurped power and
authority, may it please your Highness that it may be further
enacted by the authority aforesaid. That if any person or persons
dwelling or inhabiting within this your realm, or in any other
your Highness' realms or dominions, of what estate, dignity or
degree soever he or they be, after the end of thirty days next
after the determination of this session of this present Parliament,
shall by writing, printing, teaching, preaching, express words,
deed or act, advisedly, maliciously and directly affirm, hold,
stand with, set forth, maintain or defend the authority, pre-
eminence, power or jurisdiction, spiritual or ecclesiastical, of any
foreign prince, prelate, person, state or potentate whatsoever,
lo Elizabeth. [1559.
heretofore claimed, used or usurped within this realm or any
dominion or country being within or under the power, dominion
or obeisance of your Highness, or shall advisedly, maliciously
and directly put in ure or execute any thing for the extolling,
advancement, setting forth, maintenance or defence of any such
pretended or usurped jurisdiction, power, pre-eminence or
authority or any part thereof, that then every such person and
persons so doing and offending, their abettors, aiders, procurers
and counsellors, being thereof lawfully convicted and attainted
according to the due order and course of the Common Laws of
this realm, for his or their first offence shall forfeit and lose
unto your Highness, your heirs and successors, all his and their
goods and chattels, as well real as personal ; and if any such
person so convicted or attainted shall not have or be worth of
his proper goods and chattels to the value of twenty jiounds at
the time of such his conviction or attainder, that then every
such person so convicted and attainted over and besides the
forfeiture of all his said goods and chattels shall have and suffer
imprisonment by the space of one whole year without bail or
mainprise ; and that also all and eveiy the benefices, prebends
and other ecclesiastical promotions and dignities whatsoever of
every spiritual person so offending and being attainted shall
immediately after such attainder be utterly void to all intents
and purposes as though the incumbent thereof were dead, and
that the patron and donor of every such benefice, prebend,
spiritual promotion and dignity shall and may lawfully present
unto the same, or give the same in such manner and form as if
the said incumbent were dead; and if any such offender or
offenders after such conviction or attainder do eftsoons commit
or do the said offences or any of them in manner and form
aforesaid, and be thereof duly convicted and attainted as is
aforesaid, that then every such offender and offenders shall for
the same second offence incur into the dangers, penalties and
forfeitures ordained and provided by the Statute ' of Provision
and Piemunire, made in the sixteenth year of the reign of
King Eichard the Second ; and if any such offender or
offenders, at any time after the said second conviction and
attainder, do the third time commit and do the said offences or
' 16 R. 11. 5.
1559.] Ad of Supremacy. 1 1
any of them in manner and form aforesaid, and be thereof duly
convicted and attainted as is aforesaid, that then every such
otfence or offences shall be deemed and adjudged high treason,
and that the offender and offenders therein, being thereof
lawfully convicted and attainted according to the laws of this
realm, shall suffer pains of death and other penalties, forfeitures
and losses, as in cases of high treason by the laws of this realm.
XV. And also that it may likewise please your Highness
that it may be enacted by the authority aforesaid. That no
manner of person or persons shall be molested or impeached for
any the offences aforesaid committed or perpetrated only by
preaching, teaching or words, unless he or they be thereof
lawfully indicted within the space of one half year next after
his or their offences so committed ; and in ca?e any person
or persons sliall fortune to be imprisoned for any of the said
offences committed by preaching, teaching or words only, and
be not thereof indicted within the space of one half year next
after his or their such offence so committed and done, that then
the said person so imprisoned shall be set at liberty and be no
longer detained in prison for any such cause or offence.
XVI. Provided always and be it enacted by the authority
aforesaid. That this Act or any thing therein contained shall
not in any wise extend to repeal any clause, matter or sentence
contained or specified in the said Act of Eepeal made in the
said first and second years of the reigns of the said late King
Philip and Queen Mary as doth in any wise touch or concern
any matter or case of premunire, or that doth make or ordain
any matter or cause to be within the case of premunire, but
that the same for so much only as toucheth or concerneth any
case or matter of premunire shall stand and remain in such
force and effect as the same was before the making of this Act ;
any thing in this Act contained to the contrary in any wise
notwithstanding.
XVII. Provided also and be it enacted by the authority
aforesaid. That this Act or any thing therein contained shall
not in any wise extend or be prejudicial to any person or
persons for any offence or offences committed or done, or hereafter
to be committed or done, contrary to the tenor and effect of any
Act or Statute now revived by this Act, before the end of
13 Elizabeth. [1559.
thirty days next after the end of tlie session of this present
Parliament ; any thing in this Act contained or any other
matter or cause to the contrary notwithstanding.
XVIII. And if it happen that any peer of this realm shall
fortune to be indicted of and for any offence that is levived or
made prcmunire or treason hy this Act, that then he so being
indicted shall have his trial by his peers, in such like manner
and form as in other cases of treason hath been used.
XIX. Provided always and be it enacted as is aforesaid, That
no manner of order, act or determination for any matter of
religion or cause ecclesiastical, had or made by the authority of
this jiresent Parliament, shall be accepted, deemed, interpretate
or adjudged at any time hereafter to be any error, heresy, schism
or schismatical opinion; any order, decree, sentence, constitution
or law, whatsoever the same be, to the contrary notwithstanding.
XX. Provided always, and be it enacted by the authority
aforesaid. That such person or persons to whom your Highness,
your heirs or successors, shall hereafter by Letters Patents under
the Great Seal of England give authority to have or execute any
jurisdiction, power or authority spiritual, or to visit, reform,
order or correct any errors, heresies, schisms, abuses or enor-
mities by virtue of this Act, shall not in any wise have authority
or power to order, determine or adjudge any matter or cause
to be heresy, but only such as heretofore have been determined,
ordered or adjudged to be heresy hj the authority of the
Canonical Scriptures, or by the first four General Councils or
any of them, or by any other General Council wherein the same
was declared heresy by the express and plain woirls of the said
Canonical Scriptures, or such as hereafter shall be ordered,
judged or determined to be heresy by the High Court of
Parliament of this realm, with the assent of the clergy in their
Convocation ; any thing in this Act contained to the contrary
notwithstanding.
XXI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid,
That no person shall be hereafter indicted or arraigned for any
the offences made, ordained, revived or adjudged by this Act.
unless there be two sufficient witnesses or more to testify and
declare the said offences whereof he shall be indicted or
arraigned ; and that the said witnesses or so many of them as
1559.] Ad of Uniformity. J3
shall be living and within this realm at the time of the arraign-
ment of such person so indicted shall be brought forth in person
face to face before the party so arraigned, and there shall
testify and declare what they can say against the party so
arraigned, if he require the same.
XXII. Provided also, and be it enacted by the authoi-ity
aforesaid. That if any person or persons shall hereafter happen
to give any relief, aid or comfort or in any wise be aiding,
helping or comforting to the person or persons of any that
shall hereafter happen to be any offender in any matter or case
of premunire or treason revived or made by this Act, that then
such relief, aid or comfort given shall not be judged or taken
to be any offence, unless thei'e be two sufficient witnesses at the
least that can and will openly testify and declare that the
person or persons that so gave such relief, aid or comfort had
notice and knowledge of such offence committed and done by
the said offender at the time of such relief, aid or comfort so to
him given or ministered ; any thing in this Act contained or
any other matter or cause to the contrary in any wise notwith-
standing.
[Two sections, XXIII and XXIV, concerning certain
individuals, are here omitted.^
I Eliz. Cap. XL
An Act for the uniformity of Common Prayer and Divine Sermce
in the Church, and the Administration of the Sacraments.
Where at the death of our late Sovereign Lord King Edward
the Sixth, there remained one uniform order of common Service
and Prayer and of the administration of Sacraments, rites and
ceremonies in the Church of England, which was set forth in
one book intituled the Book of Common Prayer and adminis-
tration of Sacraments and other rites and ceremonies in the
Church of England, authorized by Act ^ of Parliament holclen in
the fifth and sixth years of our said late Sovereign Lord King
Edward the Sixth, intituled an Act for the Uniformity of
Common Prayer and administration of the Sacraments ; the
which was repealed and taken away by Act ^ of Parliament in
* 5 & 6 E. VI. I. •■' I Mary (2). 2.
14 Elizabeth. [1559.
the first year of the reign of our late Sovereign Lady Queen
Mary, to the great decay of the due honour of God and dis-
comfort to the professors of the truth of Christ's religion : Be
it therefore enacted by the authority of this present Parliament,
That the said Statute of Repeal and everything therein contained,
only concerning the said book and the service, administration of
Sacraments, rites and ceremonies contained or appointed in or by
the said book shall be void and of none effect from and after
the Feast of the Nativity of St John Baptist next coming ;
and that the said book, with the Order of Service and of the
administration of Sacraments, rites and ceremonies, with the
alteration and additions therein added and appointed by this
Statute, shall stand and be from and after the said Feast of the
Nativity of St John Baptist, in full force and effect, according
to the tenor and effect of this Statute ; anything in the afore-
said Statute of Eepeal to the contrary notwithstanding.
II. And further be it enacted by the Queen's Highness, with
the assent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parlia-
ment assembled and by authority of the same. That all and
singular ministers in any cathedral or parish church or other
place within this realm of England, Wales and the marches of
the same or other the Queen's dominions shall from and after
the Feast of the Nativity of St John Baptist next coming be
bounden to say and use the Matins, Evensong, celebration of
the Lord's Supper, and administration of each of the Sacra-
ments, and all their Common and open Prayer, in such order
and form as is mentioned in the said book so authorized by
Parliament in the said fifth and sixth years of the reign of King
Edward the Sixth, with one alteration or addition of certain
Lessons to be used on every Sunday in the year, and the form
of the Litany altered and corrected, and two sentences only
added in the delivery of the Sacrament to the communicants,
and none other or otherwise ; and that if any manner of
parson, vicar or other whatsoever minister, that ought or should
sing or say Common Prayer mentioned in the said book or
minister the Sacraments from and after the Feast of the Nativity
of St John Baptist next coming, refuse to use the said Common
Prayers or to minister the Sacraments in such cathedral or
parish church or other places as he should use to minister the
1559.] Ad of Uniformity. 15
same, in such order and form as they he mentioned and set
forth in the said hook, or shall wilfully or obstinately (standing
in the same) use any other rite, ceremony, order, form or
manner of celebrating of the Lord's Supper, openly or privily,
or Matins, Evensong, administration of the Sacraments or
other open prayers than is mentioned and set forth in the said
book, ( [by] open prayer in and throughout this Act is meant that
prayer which is for other to come unto or hear, either in
common churches or private chapels or oratories, commonly
called the Service of the Church,) or shall preach, declare or
speak any thing in the derogation or depraving of the said book
or any thing therein contained or of any part tliei'eof, and shall
be thereof lawfully convicted according to the laws of this realm
by verdict of twelve men or by his own confession or by the
notorious evidence of the fact, shall lose and forfeit to the Queen's
Highness, her heirs and successors, for his first offence, the
profit of all his spiritual benefices or promotions coming or
arising in one whole year next after his conviction, and also
that the person so convicted shall for the same offence suffer
imprisonment by the space of six months without bail or main-
prise ; and if any such person once convict of any offence
concerning the premises shall after the first conviction eftsoons
offend and be thereof in form aforesaid lawfully convicted, that
then the &ame person shall for his second offence suffer imprison-
ment by the space of one whole year and also shall therefore be
deprived, ipso facto, of all his spiritual promotions, and that
it shall be lawlul to all patrons or donors of all and singular
the same spiritual j^romotions or any of them to present or
collate to the same as though the persons so offending were
dead ; and that if any such person or persons after he shall be
twice convicted in form aforesaid shall offend against any of the
premises the third time and shall be thereof in form aforesaid
lawfully convicted, that then the person so offending and con-
victed the third time shall be deprived, ipso facto, of all his
spiritual promotions and also si 1 all suffer imprisonment during
his life ; and if the person that shall offend and be convicted in
form aforesaid, concerning any of the premises, shall not be
beneficed ncr have any spiritual promotion, that then the same
person so offending and convict shall for the first offence suffer
i6 Elizabeth. [1559.
imprisonment during one whole year next after his said con-
viction without bail or mainprise ; and if any such person not
having any spiritual promotion, after his first conviction, shall
eftsoons offend in any thing concerning the premises and
shall be in form aforesaid thereof lawfully convicted, that then
the same person shall for his second offence suffer imprisonment
during his life.
III. And it is ordained and enacted by the authority above
said, That if any person or persons whatsoever after the said
Feast of the Nativity of St John Baptist next coming shall in any
interludes, plays, songs, rhymes, or by other open words, declare
or speak any thing in the derogation, depraving or despising
of the same book or of any thing therein contained or any part
thereof, or shall by open fact, deed, or by open threatenings compel
or cause or otherwise procure or maintain any parson, vicar or
other minister in any cathedral or parish church or in chapel
or in any other place, to sing or say any common or open
prayer, or to minister any Sacrament, otherwise or in any other
manner and form than is mentioned in the said book, or that
by any of the said means shall unlawfully interrupt or let any
parson, vicar or other minister in any cathedral or parish
church, chapel or any other place to sing or say common and
open prayer or to minister the Sacraments or any of them in
such manner and form as is mentioned in the said book, that
then every such person being thereof lawfully convicted in form
abovesaid shall forfeit to the Queen our Sovereign Lady, her
heirs and successors, for the first offence a hundred marks ;
and if any person or persons being once convict of any such
offence eftsoons offend against [sicj any of the last recited offences
and shall in form aforesaid be thereof lawfully convict, that
then the same person so offending and convict shall for the
second offence forfeit to the Queen our Sovereign Lady, her
heirs and successors, four hundred marks ; and if any jjerson,
after he in form aforesaid shall have been twice convict of any
offence concerning any of the last recited offences, shall offend
the third time and be thereof in form abovesaid lawfully
convict, that then every joerson so offending and convict shall
for his third offence forfeit to our Sovereign Lady the Queen
all his goods and chattels and shall suffer imprisonment during
1559.] Ad of Uniformity. 17
his life ; and if any person or persons that for his first offence
concerning the premisses shall be convict in form aforesaid do
not pay the sum to be paid by virtue of his conviction in such
manner and form as the same Ought to be paid within six
weeks next after his conviction, that then every person so
convict and so not paying the same shall for the same first
offence instead of the said sum suffer imprisonment by the
space of six months without bail or mainprise ; and if any
person or persons that for his second offence concerning the
premisses shall be convict in form aforesaid do not pay the
said sum to be paid by virtue of his conviction and this statute
in such manner and form as the same ought to be paid within
six weeks next after his said second conviction, that then every
person so convicted and not so paying the same shall for the
same second offence in the stead of the said sum suffer imprison-
ment during twelve months without bail or mainprise; and
that from and after the said Feast of the Nativity of St John
Baptist next coming all and every person and persons inhabiting
within this realm or any other the Queen's Majesty's dominions
shall diligently and faithfully, having no lawful or reasonable
excuse to be absent, endeavour themselves to resort to their
parish church or chapel accustomed, or upon reasonable let
thereof to some usual place where Common Piayer and such
service of God shall be used in such time of let, upon every
Sunday, and other days ordained and used to be kept as Holy
Days, and then and there to abide orderly and soberly, during
the time of the Common Prayer, Preachings or other Service
of God there to be used and ministered ; upon pain of punish-
ment by the censures of the Church, and also upon pain that
every person so offending shall forfeit for every such offence
twelve pence, to be levied by the Church- wardens of the parish
where such offence shall be done, to the use of the poor of the
same parish, of the goods, lands and tenements of such offender,
by way of distress.
IV. And for due execution hereof the Queen's most Excellent
Majesty, the Lords temporal and all the Commons in this
present Parliament assembled doth in God's name earnestly
require and charge all the archbishops, bishops and other
ordinaries, that they shall endeavour themselves to the utter-
c
1 8 Elizabeth. [1559.
most of their knowledge that the due and true execution hereof
may be had throughout their dioceses and charges, as they will
answer before God for such evils and plagues wherewith
Almighty God may justly punish his people for neglecting this
good and wholesome law ; and for their authority in this
behalf, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all
and singular the same archbishops, bishops and all other their
officers exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as well in places
exempt as not exempt within their diocese, shall have full
power and authority by this Act to reform, correct and punish
by censures of the Church all and singular persons which shall
offend within any their jurisdictions or dioceses, after the said
Feast of the Nativity of St John Baptist next coming, against
this Act and Statute ; any other law, statute, privilege,
liberty or provision heretofore made, had or suffered to the
contrary notwithstanding.
V. And it is ordained and enacted by the authority afore-
said, That all and every Justices of Oyer and Determiner or
Justices of Assize shall have full power and authority in every
of their open and general sessions to enquire, hear and deter-
mine all and all manner of offences that shall be committed or
done contrary to any article contained in this present Act
within the limits of the commission to them directed and to
make process for tlie execution of the same, as they may do
against any person being indicted before them of trespass or
lawfully convicted thereof.
VI. Provided always and be it enacted by the authority
aforesaid, That all and every archbishop and bishop shall or
may at all time and times at his liberty and pleasure join and
associate himself by virtue of this Act to the said Justices of
Oyer and Determiner or to the said Justices of Assize at every
the said open and general sessions to be holden in any place
within his diocese for and to the inquiry, hearing and deter-
mining of the offences aforesaid.
VII. Provided al^o and be it enacted by the authority afore-
said, That the books concerning the said services shall at the
costs and charges of the parishioners of every parish and
cathedral church be attained and gotten before the said Feast
of the Nativity of St John Baptist next following; and that
1559.] Ad of Uniformity. 19
all sucli parishes and cathedral churches or other places where
the said books shall be attained and gotten before the said
Feast of the Nativity of St John Baptist shall, within three
weeks next after the said books so attained and gotten, use the
said service and put the same in ure according to this Act.
VIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid,
That no person or persons shall be at any time hereafter
impeached or otherwise molested of or for any the offences
above mentioned hereafter to be committed or done contrary to
this Act, unless he or they so offending be thereof indicted at
the next general sessions to be holden before any such Justices
of Oyer and Determiner or Justices of Assize next after any
offence committed or done contrary to the tenor of this Act.
IX. Provided always and be it ordained and enacted by the
authority aforesaid. That all and singular Lords of the Parlia-
ment for the third offence above mentioned shall be tried by
their peers.
X. Provided also and be it ordained and enacted by the
authority aforesaid. That the Mayor of London and all other
mayors, bailiffs and other head officers of all and singular
cities, boroughs and towns corporate within this realm,
Wales and the Marches of the same, to the which Justices of
Assize do not commonly repair, shall have full power and
authority by virtue of this act to enquire, hear and determine
the offences abovesaid and every of them, yearly within fifteen
days after the Feast of Easter and St Michael the Archangel,
in like manner and form as Justices of Assize and Oyer and
Determiner may do.
XI. Provided always and be it ordained and enacted by the
authority aforesaid. That all and singular archbishops and
bishops and every their chancellors, commissaries, archdeacons
and other ordinaries having any peculiar ecclesiastical jurisdic-
tion shall have full power and authority by virtue of this Act
as well to enquire in their visitation synods and elsewhere within
their jurisdiction, [as] at any other time and place, to take
occasions and informations of all and every the things above
mentioned done, committed or perpetrated within the limits of
their jurisdictions and authority, and to punish the same by
admonition, excommunication, sequestration or deprivation and
c 2
20 Elizabeth. [1559.
other censures and process in like form as heretofore hath been
used in like cases by the Queen's ecclesiastical laws.
XII. Provided always and be it enacted, That whatsoever
person offending in the premisses shall for the offence first
receive punishment of the ordinary, having a testimonial thereof
under the said ordinary's seal, shall not for the same offence
eftsoones be convicted before the justices; and likewise receiv-
ing for the said offence first punishment by the justices, he
shall not for the same offence eftsoones receive punishment of
the ordinary ; any thing contained in this Act to the contrary
notwithstanding.
XIII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That such orna-
ments of the Church and of the ministers thereof shall be
retained and be in use, as was in the Church of England, by
authority of Parliament, in the second year of the reign of
King Edward the Sixth, until other order shall be therein
taken by the authority of the Queen's Majesty, with the advice
of her commissioners appointed and authorized under the Great
Seal of England for ecclesiastical causes, or of the Metropolitan
of this realm : and also that, if there shall happen any con-
tempt or irreverence to be used in the ceremonies or rites of
the Church by the misusing of the orders appointed in this
book, the Queen's Majesty may by the like advice of the said
commissioners or Metropolitan ordain and publish such further
ceremonies or rites as may be most for the advancement of
God's glory, the edifying of his Church and the due reverence
of Christ's holy mysteries and sacraments.
XIV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid,
That all laws, statutes, and ordinances, wherein or whereby
any other Service, Administration of Sacraments or Common
Prayer is limited, established or set forth to be used within
this realm or any other the Queen's dominions or countries,
shall from henceforth be utterly void and of none effect.
1559.] Recognition, of the Queen s title. 21
I Eliz. Cap. III.
An Act of recognition of the Queens Highness title to the
imperial crown of this realm.
As there is nothing under God, most dread Sovereign Lady,
wherein we your most humble, faithful and obedient subjects,
the Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons in this present
Parliament assembled, have, may or ought to have more cause
to rejoice than in this only, that it hath pleased God of his
merciful proAddence and goodness towards us and this our
realm not only to provide but also to preserve and keep for us
and our wealths your royal Majesty our most rightful and lawful
Sovereign Liege Lady and Queen, most happily to reign over
us ; for the which we do give and yield unto him from the
bottoms of our hearts our humble thanks, lauds and praises ;
even so thei'e is nothing that we your said subjects for our
parties can, may or ought towards your Highness more firmly,
entirely and assuredly in the purity of our hearts tliink or
with our mouths declare and confess to be true, than that your
Majesty our said Sovereign Lady is, and in very deed and of
most meer right ought to be, by the laws of God and the laws
and statutes of this realm, our most rightful and lawful Sovereign
Liege Lady and Queen ; and that your Highness is rightly,
lineally and lawfully descended and come of the blood royal of
this realm of England, in and to whose princely person, and
the heirs of your body lawfully to be begotten, after you,
without all doubt, . . . the imperial and royal estate, place,
crown and dignity of this realm, with all honours . . . and
pre-eminences to the same now belonging and appertaining,
are and shall be most fully . . . invested and incorporated
... as rightfully and lawfully ... as the same were in the
said late King Henry the Eighth or in the late King Edward
the Sixth ... or in the late Queen Mary ... at any time
since the act of parliament made in the thirty-fifth year of the
reign of your said most noble father King Henry the Eighth,
intituled an Act ^ concerning the establishment of the King s
Majesty's succession in the imperial crown of this realm. . . .
1 35 H. vm. I.
23 Elizabeth. [1559.
II. And that it may be enacted, That as well this our
declaration ... as also the limitation and declaration of the
succession . . . contained in the said Act . . . shall stand the
law of this realm for ever. . . .
I Eliz. Cap. IV.
An act for the restitution of the First Fruits and Tenths and
rents reserved nomine decimse and of parsonages impropriate
to the imperial crown of this realm.
I. In their most humble wise beseech your most excellent
Majesty your faithful and humble subjects ... in this present
Parliament assembled, That where in the parliament of your
most noble father . . . holden ... in the twenty-sixth year
of his jjrosperous reign it was enacted [here follows a recital of
Stat. 26 Hen. VIII. 3 and other Acts touching the annexation
of first-fruits to the crown, &c.] ; We your said humble and
obedient subjects, the Lords spiritual and temporal and the
Commons in tliis your present parliament assembled, calling to
our remembrance the huge, innumerable and inestimable charges
of the royal estate and imperial crown of this realm, and how
the same is left unto your Majesty, at this your first entry
thereunto, greatly diminished, as well by reason of the said
Act \ made in the said second and third year of the said King
Philip and Queen Mary, as otherwise, do conceive at the
bottom of our hearts great sorrow and heaviness, as subjects
careful for their natural and Liege Sovereign Lady, upon whom
dependeth the surety, worldly joy and wealth of us all, and . . .
do account of very right . . . most humbly to beseech the same,
that the great disherison and decay committed and done to the
crown and estate royal of this your realm and the succession
thereof, by reason of the said Act made in the said second and
third years of the reign of the said King Philip and Queen
Mary, may at this Parliament be reformed and avoided, and that
with your Highness' favour and royal assent, it may be enacted
. . . That the said Act made in the second and third years of
the reign of the said late King Philip and Queen Mary, . . .
shall be, from and after the first day of this present parliament,
1 2 * 3 P. & M. 4.
1559.] First-fruits and Tenths: Treason. 23
. . . repealed . . . and that the said first-fruits and all
payments thereof, from and after the said first day of this
parliament, shall be revived, . . . and be . . . united and
annexed to the imperial crown of this realm. . . . and also
that as well so much of the said perpetual and annual Tenth
and Pension granted by the said Act made in the said twenty-
sixth year of the reign of the said late King Henry the Eighth,
as also so much of the said yearly rents reserved upon the said
several Letters Patents nomine decimoe, and also so many of
the said rectories . . . and other profits and emoluments
ecclesiastical and spiritual aforesaid and the reversion and
reversions thereof and all rents, emoluments and profits incident
to the same, as were in the hands and possession of the said
late Queen Mary at and before the said eighth day of August,
shall from the Feast of St Michael the Archangel last past be
... in the seisin and possession of our said Sovereign Lady
Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors. . . .
V. All vicarages not exceeding the value of £10 . . . and
also all parsonages not exceeding the value of ten marks . .
shall be free . . . from the said first-fruits. . . .
VII. [Exemptions granted to the Universities confirmed.]
VIII. [Exemption for St George's Chapel at Windsor.]
XIII. [Exemption for colleges and schools.]
I Eliz. Cap. V.
An Act whereby certain offences he made treason,
I. ... Be it enacted . . . that if any person or persons
after the first day of May next to come do maliciously, ad-
visedly and directly compass or imagine to deprive the Queen's
Majesty . . . from the style, honour and kingly name of the
imperial crown of this realm, or from any other the realms and
dominions unto our said Sovereign Lady appertaining, or to
destroy the Queen's Majesty ... or to levy war within this
realm or within any the marches or dominions to the same
belonging against the Queen's Majesty ... or to depose the
Queen's Majesty . . . from the imperial crown of the realms
and dominions aforesaid ; and the same compasses or imagina-
tions or any of them, maliciously, advisedly and directly shall
24 Elizabeth. [1559.
or do utter by open preaching express words or sayings ; or if
any person or persons after the said first day of May next
coming, shall maliciously, advisedly and directly say ... or
hold opinion, that the Queen's Majesty that now is, during her
life, is not or ought not to be Queen of this realm, or after her
death that the heirs of her Highness' body, being Kings or
Queens of this realm, of right ought not to be Kings or Queens
of this realm, or that any other person than the Queen's High-
ness that now is during her life ought to be King or Queen of
this realm . . . ; that then every such offender being thereof
duly convicted . . . their abettors and counsellors . . . shall
forfeit and lose to the Queen's Highness, her heirs and suc-
cessors, all their goods and chattels, and the whole issues and
profits of their lands, tenements and hereditaments, for term
of the life of every such offender or offenders, and also shall
suffer during their lives perpetual imprisonment.
II. Provided . . . that every ecclesiastical person being con-
victed in form aforesaid . . . shall . . . be . . . deprived from
all his benefices and promotions spiritual or ecclesiastical. . . .
III. And if any person being hereafter convicted of any the
said offences . . . shall . . . eftsoons commit any of the said
offences . . . that then every such second offence shall be
deemed high treason and the offenders therein, their abettors
[&c.] shall be deemed high traitors, and shall suffer pains of
death and forfeit all their goods, chattels, lands and tenements
to the Queen's Majesty, her heirs and successors. . . .
IV. And be it further enacted . . . That if any person . . .
by any writing, printing, overt deed or act ... do afiirm
that the Queen's Majesty that now is ought not to have the
style, honour and kingly name of this realm, or that any
person other than the Queen's Majesty that now is, ought to
have the style, honour, and kingly name of this realm, or that
the Queen's Majesty that now is during her life is not or ought
not to be Queen of this realm . . . that then every such offence
shall be adjudged high treason, and the offender and offenders
therein, their abettors [&c.] . . . shall be deemed and ad-
judged high traitors and shall suffer pains of death and forfeit
all their goods [&c,] to the Queen's Majesty. . . .
Y. [Saving of titles of strangers.]
1559.] Treason: Customs. 25
VI. Provided . . . that concealment of any high treasons
be deemed only misprision of treason and the offenders therein
to forfeit and suffer as in cases of misprision of treason hath
heretofore been used. . . .
VII. [Peers to be tried by their peers.]
VIII. And be it farther enacted . . . that no person shall
be impeached for any of the offences above-said committed only
by open preaching or words, unless the offender be thereof
indicted within six months. . . .
IX. [Punishment of accessories.]
X. Provided . . . that no person shall be hereafter indicted
for any offence made treason or misprision of treason by this
Act, unless the same offence ... be proved by the testimony
and oath of two lawful and sufficient witnesses at the time of
his indictment ; which said witnesses also at the time of the
arraignment of the party so indicted (if they be then living)
shall be brought forth in person before the party so arraigned
face to face, and there shall avow all they can say against the
said party so indicted, unless the said party so indicted shall
willingly without violence confess the same.
I Eliz. Cap. XI.
An Act limiting the times for laying on land merchandize from
beyond the seas, and touching customs for sweet wines.
I. Most humbly showing, beseech your Highness, your Lords
and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, That
where the sums of money paid in the name of customs and
subsidies of wares and merchandizes transported out and
brought into this your Highness' realm of England by any
merchant, stranger or denizen, is an ancient revenue annexed
and united to your imperial crown. . . .
VIII. And where of late years thei'e have been much greater
quantity of sweet wines brought into this realm, than in time
past hath been accustomed, which be brought from the same
place where the wine commonly called malvesey is brought . . .
and nevertheless . . . there hath not been such custom received
for the same as ought to be paid for such sweet wines ... be it
a6 Elizabeth. [1559.
enacted that like custom is of very right to be paid and shall
from henceforth be paid for such sweet wines as hatU been
accustomed to be paid for malveseys. . . .
I Eliz. Cap. XX.
An Act of the subsidy of Tonnage and Poundage.
I. In their most humble wise show unto your most excellent
Majesty, your poor and obedient subjects and Commons in this
your present Parliament assembled, That where as well your
noble Grandfather of worthy memory, King Henry the Seventh
... as other your right noble and famous progenitors, kings of
this your realm of England, time out of mind, have had and
enjoyed unto them by authority of Parliament, for the defence
of the same now your realm, and the keeping and safeguard of
the seas for the intercourse of merchandize, safely to come into
and pass out of the same, certain sums of money, named sub-
sidies, of all manner of goods and merchandize, coming in or
going out of the same your realm; ... we your said poor
Commons, by the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and
temporal in this your present Parliament assembled, and by
the authority of the same, to the intent aforesaid, give and
grant to you our supreme Liege Lady and Sovereign, one
subsidy called Tonnage, that is to say, of every ton of wine . . .
that shall or is come into this your realm, by way of mer-
chandise, the sum of 3s., and so after the rate, and of every ton
of sweet wine as well malvesey as other, that shall or is come
into the same your realm by any merchant-alien, . . . 3s., and
so after the rate, over and above the 3s. afore granted; and
of every awm of Rhenish wine coming into this your realme
... 1 2d. : and also one other subsidy called Poundage, that
is to say, of all manner of goods and merchandizes of every
merchant, denizen, and alien, , . . carried out of this your said
realm or brought into the same by way of merchandize, of
the value of every 20s. of the same goods and merchandize,
i2d., and so after the rate; and of every 20.9. value of tin
and pewter vessel carried out of this your realm by any and
every merchant-alien, 12c?. over and above the 12c?. aforesaid.
1559.] Tonnage and Poundage: Fifteenths and Tenths. 27
II. Except and always foreprized out of this grant of subsidy
of Poundage all manner of woollen cloth made within this your
realm of England, and by any merchant-denizen, and not born
alien, carried out of this your said realm ; and all manner of
wools, wool-fells, and hides and backs of leather, also carried
out of this your realm ; and all wines and all manner of fresh
fish and bestial coming into the same your realm.
III. And further we your said poor Commons . . . give and
grant unto you our said Liege Lady and Sovereign, for the
causes aforesaid, one other subsidy, . . . that is to say, of every
merchant-denizen for every sack of wool £1 13s. ^d.) and for
eveiy 240 wool-fells <£i 13s. ^d. ; and for every last of hides
and backs ... £3 6s. 8c/. ; and of every merchant- stranger
not born your liege man ... for every sack of wool £3 6s. 8c?. ;
and for every 240 wool-fells £3 6s. 8cZ. ; and also for every last
of hides and backs, £3 13s. ^d. ; and so of all the said wools,
wool-fells, hides and backs, and every of them after the rate
. . . : to have and perceive the subsidies aforesaid ... to your
Highness, from the sixteenth day of November last past, during
your life natural.
V. [Goods imported or exported without duty, to be for-
feited.]
I Eliz. Cap. XXI.
An Act of a svhsidy and two xv^^'^ and x'^ by tJie temporality.
I. The care which we do perceive your Majesty hath, most
noble and redoubted Sovereign, to reduce this realm and the
imperial crown thereof now lately so sore shaken, so im-
poverished, so enfeebled and weakened, into the former estate,
strength and glory, doth make us not only to rejoice much in
the great bouuteousness of Almighty God, who hath so marvel-
lously and beyond all worldly expectation preserved your
Majesty in these late difficult and dangerous times, but also to
study and bend all our wits and force of understanding how we
may, like loving and obedient subjects, follow our head in this
so noble and so necessary an enterprise; . . . Therefore we
your most obedient and loving subjects the Lords spiritual and
a8 Elizabeth. [1559.
temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament as-
sembled, to show our willing hearts and good minds, upon
mature consultation had, have condescended and agreed with
one voice and most entire affections to make your Highness at
this time a present ; not such in deed as in our affections we
do wish it, and as we know most certainly ought to be, but yet
of your accustomed clemency which you do show to all men, we
humbly on our knees pray your Highness not to reject it, but
to accept our good wills and hearty desires herein, and that
this our small gift may be by your Highness, the Lords spiritual
and temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the authority of the same enacted, and be it
enacted, That your Highness towards the said great costs and
inestimable charges, shall have by authority of this present
Parliament, two whole fifteens and tenths to be paid, taken
and levied of the moveable goods, chattels, and other things
usual to such fifteens and tenths to be contributory and charge-
able within the shires, cities, boroughs, towns and other places
of this your Majesty's realm in manner and form afore time
used ; except the sum of £12,000 thereof fully to be deducted,
that is to say; £6,000 of either of the said whole fifteens and
tenths of the sum that one whole xvtb and n^^ attaineth unto,
in relief of the poor towns, cities and boroughs of this your
sai realm wasted, desolate or destroyed or overgreatly im-
poverished, after such rate as was and hath afore this time
been had and made unto every shire, and to be divided in such
manner and form as heretofore for one whole xv*^ and x^h
hath been had and divided ... to be paid in manner and
form following, that is to say ; the first whole fifteen and
tenth, except before excepted, to be paid to your Highness in
the receipt of your Highness' exchequer, before the tenth
day of November next coming ; and the said second xv^^^ and
xtl» . . . before the tenth day of November in the year of our
Lord God, 1560.
II. And be it further enacted that knights elected and
returned of and for the shires within this realm for this present
Parliament, citizens of cities and burgesses of boroughs and
towns where collectors have been used to be named and ap-
pointed for the collection of any xv*^ and x*'^ before this time
1559.] Fifteenths and Tenths, and Subsidy. 29
granted, shall name and appoint yearly before the last day of
August in either of the said two years, sufficient and able
persons for the collection of the said xv*^ and xtli in every of
the said shires, cities, boroughs and towns, the said persons then
having lands, tenements and other hereditaments in his or their
own right of an estate of inheritance of the yearly value of ^10,
or in goods worth £100 at the least ; and also such person or
persons so by them to be named and appointed for the collection
of either of the said xv^l^ and x*^ shall be by them severally
appointed and allotted into hundreds, rapes, wapentakes, cities,
boroughs and towns. . . .
IV. And furthermore for the great and weighty considerations
aforesaid, we . . . give and grant to your Highness one entire
subsidy to be rated . . . and paid at two several payments, of
every person spiritual and temporal, of what estate or degree
he or they be, according to the tenor of this Act, in manner
and form following, that is to say ; as well of every person
born within this realm ... as of every fraternity, guild, cor-
poration, mystery, brotherhood and communalty, corporated or
not corporated, within this realm . . . being worth £5, for
every pound as well in coin and the value of every pound that
every such person, fraternity [&c.] hath of his or their own or
any other to his or their use, as also plate, stock of mer-
chandises, all manner of corn and blades, household stuff, and
of all other goods moveable, as well within the realm as without,
and of all such sums of money as to him or them is or shall be
owing, whereof he or they trust surely to be paid, except such
sums of money as he or they owe and intendeth truly to pay,
and except also the apparel of such persons, their wives and
children belonging to their own bodies (saving jewels, gold,
silver, stone, and pearl), shall pay to and for llie first pay-
ment of the said subsidy \s. 8cZ. of every pound, and to and
for the second payment of the said subsidy \s. of every
pound : and also every alien and stranger born out of
the Queen's obeisance, as well denizen as others inhabiting
within this realm, of every pound that he or they have in coin,
and the value of every pound in . . . chattels moveable or
unmoveable as is aforesaid, as well within this realm as without,
and of all sums of money to him or them owing (except every
30 Elizabeth. [1559.
such sum or sums of money which he or they do owe and intend
truly to pay), shall pay for every pound to the first payment of
the said subsidy, 3s. 4c?., and to the second payment of the
said subsidy 2s. of every pound : and also that every alien
and stranger born out of the Queen's dominions, being denizen
or not denizen, not being contributory to any of the rates
above said, shall pay to the first payment of the said subsidy
4c?., and to the second payment of the said subsidy other 40?.
for every poll ; and the master or lie or she with whom the
same alien is or shall be abiding at the time of the taxation or
taxations thereof, to be charged with the same for lack of pay-
ment thereof.
V. And be it further enacted, That every person born under
the Queen's obeisance, and every corporation [&c.], for every
pound that every of the same person and every corporation
[&c.] or any other to his or their use hath in fee simple, fee tail
for term of life, term of years, by execution, wardship or by
copy of court roll, of and in any honours, castles, manors, lands,
tenements, rents, services, hereditaments, annuities, fees, corodies
or other yearly profits of the yearly value of 20s. as well within
ancient demesne and other places privileged or elsewhere, and
so upwards, shall pay to the first payment of the said subsidy
2s. 8d. of every pound, and to the second payment of the said
subsidy is. ^d. of every pound : and every alien born out of the
Queen's obeisance, in such case to pay at the first of the said
payments 5s. 4c?. of every pound, and at the second payment
2S. 8d. of every pound ; . . . (lands and tenements chargeable
to the dismes of the clergy, and yearly wages due to servants
for their yearly service, other than the Queen's servants
taking yearly wages of £5 or above, only excepted and
forprised) ; • . . except and always forprised from the charge
and assessment of this subsidy, all goods, chattels, jewels,
and ornaments of churches and chapels which have been ordained
and used in churches or chapels for the honour and service of
Almighty God.
VIII. And further be it enacted, That for the assessing and
ordering of the said subsidy to be duly had, the Lord Chancellor
of England or the Keeper of the Great Seal, the Lord Treasurer
of England, the Lord Steward of the Queen's Majesty's House-
1559.] Fifteenths and Tenths^ and Subsidy. 31
hold, the Lord President of the Queen's Honorable Council,
and the Lord Privy Seal for the time being, or two of them at
least, whereof the Lord Chancellor of England or Keeper of the
Great Seal for the time being to be one, shall name and appoint
for every shire and riding and other places, . . . and also for
every city and town being a county in itself, and for the Isle of
Wight, such certain number of persons of every of the same
shires . . . and every other place, and other the inhabitants of
the same, to be commissioners of and within the same, whereof
they be inhabitants ; and also for the honourable household of
the Queen's Majesty in what shire or other places the said
household shall happen then to be ; and the Lord Chancellor
or Keeper of the Great Seal, and other with him before named, in
like manner may name and appoint of every other such borough
and town corporate, as they shall think requisite, 6, 5, 4, 3,
or 2 of the head officers, and other sad honest inhabitants of
every of the said cities, boroughs and towns corporate, accord-
ing to the number and multitude of the people being in the
same : . . . and the Lord Chancellor of England or Keeper of
the Great Seal for the time being shall make and direct out
of the Court of Chancery under the Great Seal several com-
missions . . . unto such person and persons as by his discretion
and other with him aforenamed and appointed, in like manner
and form as is afore rehearsed, shall be thought sufficient for
the sessing and levying of the said subsidy in all shires and
places according to the true meaning of this Act : . . . pro-
vided always, that no person shall be compelled to be any
commissioner for the execution of this present Act, but only in
the shire where he dwelleth. . . .
IX. And it is also enacted, That the commissioners . . .
shall, before January 6, 1559, . . . direct their several or joint
precept unto . . . three or more, as for the number of the
inhabitants shall be requisite, of the most substantial, discreet,
and honest persons, inhabitants ... of and in hundreds . . .
and other places, as well within liberties ... as without . . .
and to the constables, sub-constables, bailiffs, and other like
officers or ministers of every of the said hundreds . . . and
other places beforesaid, . . . straightly by the same precept
charging and commanding the same inhabitants, constables and
32 Elizabeth. [1559.
other officers aforesaid, ... to appear in their proper persons
before the said commissioners ... at certain days and places
... to do all that to them on the parties of the Queen's Majesty
shall be enjoined touching this Act. . . .
X. And it is further ordained, That the said day and place
prefixed and limited in the said precept, every of the commis-
sioners then being in the shire and having no sufficient excuse
for his absence . . . shall appear in his proper person, and there
the same commissioners being present . . . shall call before them
the said inhabitants and officers to whom they have directed their
said precepts . . . : and if any person so warned make default,
unless he then be letten by sickness or lawful excuse, and that
let then be witnessed by the oaths of two credible persons,
or if any appearing refuse to be sworn in form following, to
forfeit to the Queen's Majesty 40s. ; . . . and upon the same
appearance had, one of the most substantial inhabitants or
officer being warned and appearing before the said commis-
sioners, shall be sworn upon a book openly before the com-
missioners in form following : I shall ti'uly enquire with my
fellows that shall be charged with me of the hundi'ed ... or
other place, of the best and most value of the substance of
every person dwelling within the limits of the places that I and
my fellows shall be charged with, and of other which shall have
his or their most resort unto any of the said places, and charge-
able with any sum of money by this Act of this subsidy, and of
all other articles that I shall be charged with touching the said
Act, and according to the intent of the same, and thereupon as
near as it may be or shall come to my knowledge, truly to
present and certify before you the names, surnames, and the
best and uttermost substance and values of every of them, as
well of lands ... as of goods, chattels, debts and other things
chargeable by the said Act, without any concealment ... as
near as God will give me grace : So help me God and the holy
contents of this book : . . . and upon the oath so taken as is
aforesaid, . . . the said commissioners shall openly there read
unto them the said rates, and openly declare the effect of their
charge unto them, in wliat manner and form they should make
their certificate, . . . and after such oath and the statute of the
said subsidy, and the manner of the said certificate ... to them
1559.] Fifteenths mid Tenths, and Subsidy. '>,'y^
declared, the said commissioners there being shall by their
discretions appoint and limit unto the said persons another day
and place to appear before the said commissioners, and charging
the said persons, that they in the meantime shall make diligent
inquiry by all ways and means of the premises . . . : and of such
as appear ready to make certificate as is aforesaid, the said
commissioners there being shall take and receive the same
certificate . . . ; and if the same commissioners see cause reason-
able, they shall examine the said presenters thereof, and there-
upon the said commissioners . . . shall from time to time openly
there ])refix a day ... for their further proceeding to the said
assessing of the same subsidy ; and thereupon at the said day
. . . the same commissioners shall make their precept or precepts
to the constables ... or other officers of such hundreds . . .
or other places aforesaid as the same commissioners shall be of,
comprising in the same precept the names and surnames of all
persons presented before them in the said certificate, of whom if
the said commissioners . . . shall then have vehement suspect to
be of more greater value or substance . . . than upon such
persons shall be certified, the same commissioners shall make
their piecept to the constable, bailiffs or other officers, com-
manding the same ... to warn such pei'sons whose names shall
be comprised in the said precept, . . . that the same persons
shall personally appear before the said commissioners at the
same new prefixed day and place, there to be examined by all
ways and means, other than by corporal oath, by the said
commissioners, of their greatest substance and best value, . . .
according to this Act : at which day and place so prefixed the
said commissioners . . . shall cause to be called the said persons
for their examination ; and if any of those persons . . . make
default and appear not, . . . that then every of them so making-
default, to be taxed and charged to the Queen's Majesty at the
double sums of the rate that he should liave been set at . . . ;
which commissioners shall travel with every of the persons so
then and there appearing, ... by all such ways and means they
can, other than by corpoi-al oath, for their better knowledge of
their best value : . . . and if any person certified or rated by
virtue of this Act . . . doth find himself grieved with the same
presentment . . ., and thereupon complain to the commissioners
D
34 Elizabeth. [1559.
. . ., that then the said commissioners shall . . . examine . . . tlie
persons so complaining and other his neighbours by their
discretion . . ., and after due examination and perfect know-
ledge thereof had . . ., the said commissioners . . . may abate or
enlarge the same assessment, according as it shall appear unto
them just upon the same examination . . .
XII. Provided always, That every such person which shall be
set or taxed for payment to this subsidy after the yearly value
of his lands, tenements and other real possessions or profits at
any of the said taxations, shall not be taxed for his goods and
chattels or other moveable substance at the same taxations;
and that he that shall be t;ixed for the same subsidy for his
goods, chattels and other moveables at any of the said
taxations, shall not be taxed or chargeable for his lands
or other real possessions and profits abovesaid at the same
taxations . . .
XIV. And fui"ther be it enacted, That the said commis-
sioners of every commission shall according to their divisions
. . . have full power to tax and cess every other commissioner
joined with them in every such commission and division, and
shall also assess every assessor within their division . . .
XV. And that all persons of the estate of a baron and
every estate above shall be charged with their freehold and
value as is above said, by the Chancellor or Keeper of the
Great Seal, Treasurer of England, Lord President of the ,
Queen's Majesty's Privy Council and Lord Privy Seal for
the time being, or other persons by the Queen's Majesty's
authority to be limited . . .
XVII. And further be it enacted, That the said commis-
sioners . . . shall, for either of the same payments of the said
subsidy, name such sufficient and able persons which then
shall have lands and other hereditaments in their own right of
the yearly value of £20 or goods to the value of 200 marks
at the least, ... to be high collectors and have the collection
and receipt of the said sums . . .
XVIII. . . . And every collector so deputed . . . shall have
authority by this Act to appoint days and places within the
circuit of his collection, for the payment of the said subsidy to
him to be made, and thereof to give warning by proclamation
1559.] Fifteenths mid Tenths^ and Subsidy. %^
or otherwise to all the constables or other persons or inhabit-
ants having the charge of the particular collection within the
hundreds, parishes, towns or other places by him or them
limited, to make payment for their said particular collection of
every sum as to them shall appertain. . . .
XIX. Provided always. That no person inhabiting in any
city, borough or town coi-porate shall be compelled to be an
assessor or collector of the subsidy in any place out of the said
city [&c.] where he dwelleth . .. .
XXI. It is also enacted, That every of the said high collectors
which shall account for any part of the said subsidy . . . shall
be allowed . . . for every pound limited to his collection, . . .
six pence, as parcel of their charge ; that is to say, of every
pound thereof for such person as then have had the particular
collection in the towns and other places . . . two pence ; and
other two pence . . . every of the said chief collectors or their
accountants to retain to their own use . . . ; and two pence . . .
to be delivered ... to such of the commissioners as shall take
upon them the business and labour about the premises . . .
XXII. And that no person now being of the number of the
company of this present Parliament, nor any commissioner,
shall be named or assigned to be any collector or subcollector
or presenter of the said subsidy or any part thereof.
XXV. Provided that all persons having manors, lands [&c.]
chargeable to the payment of the subsidy, and also having
spiritual possessions chargeable to her said Majesty by the
grant made by the clergy of this realm in their convocation,
and over this having substance in goods and chattels charge-
able by this said Act, that then if any of the said persons be
hereafter charged for the said manors [&c.] and spiritual
possessions, and also charged for their goods and chattels, that
then they shall be only charged by virtue of this Act for their
said manors [&c.] and spiritual possessions, or only for their
said goods and chattels, the best thereof to be taken for the
Queen's Majesty, and not to be charged for both, or double
charged for any of them . . .
XXVI. Provided that this grant of subsidy nor anything
therein contained extend to charge the inhabitants in Ireland,
Jersey and Guernsey for any lands . . . goods, chattels or other
D 2
36 Elizabeth. [1559.
moveable substance which the said inhabitants have within
Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey . . .
XXVII. Provided also that this present Act of subsidy nor
anything therein contained, extend to any of the English
inhabitants in any of the counties of Northumberland, Cumber-
land, Westmoreland, the town of Berwick, the town of New-
castle upon Tyne and the bishopric of Durham, for any lands,
. . . goods, chattels or other moveable substance which the same
inhabitants . . . have within the said counties [&c.] . . .
XXIX. Provided that no orphan or infant within the age of
twenty-one years, born within any of the Queen's Majesty's
dominions, shall be cliarged . . . for goods and chattels to him
or her left or bequeathed.
XXX. Provided also that this Act nor anything therein
contained shall extend to the goods or lands of any college,
hall or hostel within the universities of Oxford and Cambridge,
or to the goods or lands of tlie College of Winton ... or of the
College of Eton ... or of any common free grammar school,
within the realm, or of any reader, schoolmaster or scholar or
any graduate within the said universities and colleges there
remaining for study ... or of any hospital . . . used for the
sustentation and relief of poor people.
XXXIII. Provided also that the said grant of subsidy do
not any wise extend to the inhabitants at this present time
within the five ports corporate or to any of their members
incorporate or united to the same five ports . . .
I Eliz. Cap. XXII.
An Act v)herehy the Queen's Highness may make ordinances and
rules in churcJies collegiate, corporations and schools.
I. Forasmuch as certain cathedral and collegiate churches
and other ecclesiastical incorporations and some schools have
been erected, founded or ordained by the late Kings of worthy
memory, King Henry the Eighth or King Edward the Sixth,
or by our late Sovereign Lady Queen Mary and by the late
Lord Cardinal Pole, not having as yet ordained and established
such good orders, rules and constitutions as should be meet
1559.] Colleges and Schools : Monasteries. 37
and convenient for the good order, safety and convenience of
the same ; Be it therefore enacted, That the Queen's Majestj
. . . shall by virtue of this Act have full power and authority
to make and prescribe unto every of the aforesaid churches,
incorporations and schools and unto all the officers, ministers
and scholars in them . . . such statutes, ordinances and orders
as well for the good use and government of themselves ... as
also for their houses, lands [&c.] ; and that her Majesty may at
her pleasure alter ... all the Statutes [&c.] of the aforesaid
churches [&c.] from time to time as to her Majesty shall seem
expedient . . .
I Eliz. Cap. XXIV.
An Act to annex to the Crown certain religious houses and
monasteries and to reform certain abuses in chantries.
I. Whereas, since the decease of our Sovereign Lord King
Edward the Sixth . . . certain abbeys, priories, hospitals,
nunneries, houses of friars, chantries and other religious and
ecclesiastical houses, by procurement of certain persons mean-
ing to reduce this your realm rather to darkness and super-
stition than to the true knowledge and honouring of Almighty
God, in the time of the late Queen Mary, your Majesty's sister,
were restored or of new entered unto . . . , and divers houses,
manors, lands . . . goods . . . and profits, all which or the most
thereof until that time were appertaining to the imperial
crown of this realm, have been given to the same corjioi-alions,
as well by the said late Queen Mary ... as also by sundry
other persons of this your Majesty's realm ; which said abbeys
. . . and other religious houses and chantries, are now wholly
possessed by a few persons born within this realm, owing of
duty by the laws of God and of this your Majesty's realm their
whole obedience to the said imperial crown of this realm ; and
yet nevertheless under the colour of certain superstitious reli-
gions and professions have not only professed themselves to be
subject and obedient to foreign power and authority, to the
manifest derogation of the jurisdiction ... of the said imperial
crown of this realm, but also by and under the same foreign
power and authority only, do yet daily use sundry rules, ordi-
38 Elizabeth. [1559.
nances, rites and ceremonies in tlieir services and common
prayers repugnant to the usage of tlie holy catholic and
apostolic church of Christ; and to the intent that the said
abbeys and other religious houses and chantries, and all the
houses, manors, lands . . . goods . . , and profits whatsoever to the
said religious . . . houses appertaining . . . may be from hence-
forth by your Highness employed to such good uses for the setting
forth of the true honour and glory of God, the advancernent of
your Majesty's said crown imperial and jurisdiction of the same,
and to the aid and relief of the public weal of this your
Majesty's realm aforesaid, as unto your Highness shall seem
good : ... Be it enacted, Tliat your Highness shall from hence-
forth have, hold and enjoy to your Highness, your heirs and
successors for ever : . . all the abbeys . . . chantries and
other religious and ecclesiastical houses . . . which have been
at any time since the decease of our said late Sovereign
Lord King Edward the Sixth newly restored ... or established,
and also all the sites, manors, lands . . . and profits whatso-
ever which appertain ... to the said . . . religious houses . . .
IV. And furthermore ... be it enacted. That all the religious
and pi'ofessed j^ersons of the said . . . religious houses as shall
like true and faithful subjects freely and willingly take upon
the Holy Evangelist one corporal oath set forth in one Act ^
entitled an Act restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction
over the State ecclesiastical and spiritual [&c.], and shall also
from henceforth observe all such manner of service and common
prayer as other your Majesty's true and obedient subjects are
bounden to observe by the laws of this your realm, and none
other, shall before the end of forty days after the end of this
session of Parliament have assigned ... to them, during their
natural lives, such convenient pensions or annuities ... as to
your Highness shall seem meet, and shall also at the pleasure
of your Majesty remain in such place and house as they have
had and held during the time of their profession . . .
' I Eliz. 1. § 9.
1563.] Assurance of the Queen's Poiver. 39
Second Parliament: First Session.
Jan. 11— April 10, 1563.
5 Eliz. Cap. I.
An A ct for the assurance of the Queens Majesty's royal power
over all estates and subjects within her Highness' dominions.
For pi-eservation of the Queen's most excellent Highness, her
heirs and successors, and the dignity of the imperial crown of this
realm of England, and for avoiding both of such hurts, perils,
dishonours and inconveniences, as have before-time befallen, as
well to the Queen's Majesty's noble progenitors, kings of this
realm, as for the whole estate thereof, by means of the juris-
diction and power of the See of Rome, unjustly claimed and
usurped within this realm and the dominions thereof, and also
of the dangers by the fautors of the said usurped power, at
this time grown to marvellous outrage and licentious boldness,
and now requiring more sharp restraint and correction of laws,
than hitherto in the time of the Queen's Majesty's most mild
and merciful reign have been established : Be it therefore
enacted . . . That if any person dwelling within this realm . . .
after the first day of April, which shall be in the year of our
Lord God 1563, shall by writing . . . preaching or teaching,
deed or act . . . maintain or defend the authority, jurisdiction
or power of the bishop of Eome, or of his see, heretofore
claimed, used or usurped within this realm ... or by any
speech, open deed or act, advisedly and wittingly attribute any
such manner of jurisdiction, authority or preeminence to the
said see of Rome, or to any bishop of the same see for the time
being, within this realm . . . that then every such person so
doing, their abettors [&c.] . . . being thereof lawfully indicted
or presented within one year next after any such offences by
him committed, and being lawfully convicted or attainted at
any time after, according to the laws of this realm, for every
such default and offence shall incur into the . . . penalties . . .
provided by the Statute of Provision and Praemunire made in
the sixteenth year of the reign of King Richard the Second ^
1 16 R. II. 5.
40 Elizabeth. [ises.
II. [Justices of Assize, and Justices of the Peace in their
Quarter Sessions, to inquire of such offences, and certify into
King's Bench.]
III. [Justices of the King's Bench to hear and determine
such offences.]
IV. And moreover, be it enacted, That as well all manner
of persons expressed and appointed in the Act ' made in the
first year of the Queen's Majesty's reign that now is, in-
tituled, an Act restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction
over the estate ecclesiastical and spiritual, and abolishing
all foreign powers repugnant to the same, to take the oath
set forth in the same, as all other persons which have taken
or shall take orders, commonly called Ordines Sacros or Eccle-
siastical Orders, [or] have been or shall be . . . admitted to any
degree of learning in any University within this realm . . . and
all schoolmasters and public and private teachers of children,
as also all manner of persons that have taken or hereafter shall
take any degree of learning in the Common Laws of this realm,
as well utter- barristers as benchers ... in any house of court,
and all principal treasurers, and such as be of the grand com-
pany in every Inn of Chancery, and all attorneys, protonotaries
and philizers towards the laws of the realm, and all manner of
sheriffs, escheators and feodaries, and all other persons which
. . . have been or shall be admitted to any ministry or office in
the Common Law or any other law, . . . and all other officers of
any court whatsoever, shall take a corporal oath upon the
Evangelists, befoi^e they shall be admitted ... to take upon
them to . . . exercise . . . any such vocation, office [&c.J as is
aforesaid . , .
V. And also be it enacted, That every archbishop and bishop
within this realm shall have full power, by virtue of this Act,
to tender the oath aforesaid, to every spiritual or ecclesiastical
person within their proper diocese, as well in places and
jurisdictions exempt as elsewhere.
VI. [The Lord Chancellor may issue special commissions for
tendering the oath to particular persons.]
VII. And be it also further enacted, That if any person
compellable by this Act or by the said Act made in the said
^ I Eliz. I.
1563.] Assurance of the Queens Power. 41
first year to take the said oath . . . shall . . . refuse to take
the said oath in manner and form aforesaid, that then the
party so refusing, and being thereof lawfully indicted or pre-
sented -within one year next after any such refusal and con-
victed or attainted at any time after, according to the laws of
this realm, shall suflFer the penalties ordained and provided by
the Statute of Provision and Praemunire aforesaid . . .
VIII. [Such refusal to be certified into King's Bench, and
the ofiender to be indicted there.]
IX. And for stronger defence and maintenance of this Act,
it is further enacted. That if any such offender as is aforesaid of
the first part of this Statute . . . , after such conviction and
attainder as is aforesaid, do eftsoons commit the said offences
or any of them in manner aforesaid, and be thereof duly
convicted and attainted as is aforesaid ; and also, that if any
the persons appointed by this Act to take the oath aforesaid
do, after the space of three months next after the first tender
thereof, the second time refuse to take . . . the same . . . , that
then every such offender for the same second offence shall
. . . suffer the same pains . . . and execution as is used in cases
of high treason.
XIII. And be it further enacted, That every person which
hereafter shall be elected or appointed a knight, citizen or
burgess, or baron for any of the five ports, for any Parliament
hereafter to be holden, shall from henceforth, before he shall
enter into the Parliament House or have any voice there, openly
receive and pronounce the said oath before the Lord Steward for
the time being, or his deputy for that time to be appointed . . .
XIV. Provided always. That forasmuch as the Queen's
Majesty is otherwise sufficiently assured of the faith and loyalty
of the temporal lords of Her Highness' Court of Parliament,
therefore this Act shall not extend to compel any temporal
person, of or above the degree of a baron of this realm, to take
the oath abovesaid ...
5 Eliz. Cap. III.
An Act for the relief of the Poor.
I. To the intent that idle and loitering persons and valiant
beggars may be avoided, and the impotent, feeble and lame,
4a Elizabeth. [i563.
which are the poor in very deed, should be liereafter re-
lieved and well provided for : be it enacted . , . That the
Statute ^ made in the twentj^-second year of the late King of
famous memory, Henry the Eighth, and also the Statute'^ made
in the third and fourth years of the reign of tlie famous King
Edward the Sixth, conceniing beggars, vagabonds and idle
persons . . . shall stand in their full force and effect, and shall
be also from henceforth justly and truly put in execution . . .
II. And further be it enacted. That yearly upon the Sunday
next after the feast day of the Nativity of St John Baptist,
commonly called Midsummer Day, in every city, borough and
town corporate, the mayor, bailifi's or other head officers for the
time being, and in every other parish of the country the
parson, vicar or curate and churchwardens shall have written
in a register ... as well the names of the inhabitants and
householders within their city ... or parish, as also the names
of all such impotent, aged and needy persons as be within their
city ... or parish, which are not able to live of themselves nor
with their own labour ; and shall openly in the church and
quietly after divine service call the said householders and
inhabitants together, among whom the mayor or other head
officers and two of the chief inhabitants in every such cit}' [&c.]
such as the mayor or other head officers shall think meet, and
the parson, vicar or curate and churchwardens in every other
parish, shall appoint yearly two able persons or more, to be
gatherers and collectors of the charitable alms of all the residue
of the people inhabiting in the parish whereof they be chosen
collectors for the relief of the poor : which collectors the
Sunday next after their election, or the Sunday following, if need
require, when the people are at the church at divine service, shall
gently ask and demand of every man and woman what they of
their charity will be contented to give weekly towards the relief
of the poor, and the same to be written in the said register . . . :
and the said gatherers . . . shall justly gather and truly dis-
tribute the same charitable alms weekly ... to the said poor
and impotent persons . . . without fraud, covin, favour or affec-
tion, and after such sort that the more impotent may have the
more help, and such as can get part of their living to have the
* 22 H. VIII. 12. 2 3 & 4 E. VI. i6.
1563.] Relief of the Poor. 43
less, and by the discretion of the collectors to be put in such
labour as they be fit and able to do, but none to go or sit
openly a-begging upon pain limited in the aforesaid statutes . . .
III-VI. [Penalties and other provisions for the due execution
of the above.]
VII. And be it further enacted, That if any person, being
able to further this charitable work, do obstinately refuse
reasonably to give towards the help and relief of the poor,
or do wilfully discourage other from so charitable a deed, the
parson . . . and churchwardens of the parish wherein he dwelleth
shall then gently exhort him towards the relief of the poor ;
and if he will not so be persuaded, then upon the certificate of
the parson ... to the bishop of the diocese or ordinary of the
place . . . the same bishop's ordinary . . . shall send for him, to
induce bim by charitable means to extend [his] charity to the
poor . . . ; and if the person so sent for . . . shall obstinately
refuse to give weekly to the relief of the poor according to his
abilities, then the bishop or ordinary of the diocese . . . shall
have full power ... to bind the eaid obstinate and wilful person
so refusing unto the Queen by recognisance . . . with condition
. . . that the said obstinate person so refusing shall personally
appear before the justices of peace of the county ... if it be
out of any city [&c.], and if it be within any city [&c.] then
before the mayors, bailiffs [&c.] of every such city [&c.] . . .
and if any such obstinate person shall refuse to be bound as is
aforesaid, that then the said bishop, ordinary [&c.] . . . shall
have authority ... to commit the said obstinate person to
prison . . .
VIII. And further be it enacted, That the said justices . . .
or the mayor [&c.J of every such city [&c.], if the said ob-
stinate person do appear before them, shall charitably and
gently . . . move the said obstinate person to extend his charity
towards the relief of the poor of the parish where he dwelleth ;
and if he . . . will not be persuaded therein . . . that then it shall
be lawful for the said justices . . . and . . . for the mayor [&c. ]
of the same city [&c.] with the churchwardens where the said
obstinate person shall inhabit, or one of them, to cess, tax and
limit upon every such obstinate person so refusing, according
to their good discretions, what sum the said obstinate person
44 Elizabeth. [ises.
shall pay weekly towards the relief of the poor . . . ; and if the
said person . . . shall refuse to pay the sum that shall be . . .
appointed, then the said Justices of Peace ... or the said
mayor [&c.] shall have full power ... to commit the said
obstinate person ... to the next gaol . . .
X. And be it further enacted, if it shall chance any parish
to have in it more poor and impotent folks . . . than the said
parish is able to relieve, that then in every such parish not
standing in any city or town corporate, the parson . . . and two
or three of the chief inhabitants . . . and in every city or town
corporate the mayor or chief officers of the same city . . . and
the parson ... of the said parish calling to them two or three
of the chief parishioners . . . shall certify unto the Justices
of Peace of the county . . . the number and names of the
persons with which they be surcharged, and upon such certi-
ficate the said Justices of Peace . . . shall then grant unto such
and as many of the said poor folks as by their discretion they
sliall think good, a sufficient licence ... to go abroad to beg . . .
the charitable alms of the inhabitants of the country out of the
said parishes ... so surcharged ; in which licence the infirmity
of the person, the places, towns and parishes to which such
poor folks by that licence be licenced to resort, shall in the same
licence be named . . . and if any of the said poor folks so
licenced shall transgress the limits to them appointed . . . the
party so transgressing to be taken for a valiant beggar and
punished according to the Statute made in the said twenty-
second year of King Henry the Eighth . . .
XII. And be it also enacted, That in all cities, boroughs and
towns corporate, within which be divers parishes, the mayor
and head officers . . . shall consider the state and ability of
every such parish ; and if the same mayor and officers shall
understand that the parishioners of any one of the said parishes
. . . have no poverty among them or be able sufficiently to
relieve the poverty of the parish where they dwell, and also to
succour poverty elsewhere further, that then the said mayor
and officers, with the assent of two of the most honest and
substantial inhabitants of every such wealthy parish, shall
. . . persuade the parishioners of the wealthier parish charitably
to contribute somewhat . . . toward the weekly I'elief ... of the
1563.] Labourers and Apprentices. 45
poor and needy within the other parish or parishes aforesaid
where need is.
5 Eliz. Cap. IV.
An Act touching divers orders for artificers, labourers, servants
of husbandry and apprentices.
I. Although there remain in force presently a great number
of statutes concerning . . . apprentices, servants and labourers,
as well in husbandry as in divers other . . . occupations, yet
partly for the imperfection and contrariety ... in sundry of
the said laws, and for the variety and number of them, and
chiefly for that the wages and allowances limited in many of
the said statutes are in divers places too small . . . respecting
the advancement of prices . . . the said laws cannot con-
veniently without the greatest grief and burden of the poor
labourer and hired man be put in due execution ; and as the
said statutes were at the time of the making of them thought
to be very good and beneficial . . . , as divers of them yet are,
so if the substance of as many of the said laws as are meet to
be continued shall be digested and reduced into one sole law,
and in the same an uniform order prescribed . . . , there is good
hope that it will come to pass that the same law being duly
executed should banish idleness, advance husbandry and yield
unto the hired person both in the time of scarcity and in the
time of plenty a convenient proportion of wages : Be it therefore
enacted . . . That as much of the statutes heretofore made as
concern the hiring, keeping, departing, working, wages or order
of servants, workmen, artificers, apprentices and labourers . . .
shall be from and after the last day of September next ensuing
repealed . . .
II. No person after the aforesaid last day of September . . .
shall be retained, hired or taken into sei'vice to work for any
less time than for one whole year in any of the sciences ... or
arts of clothiers, woollen cloth weavers, tuckers, fullers, cloth
workers, shearmen, dyers, hosiers, tailors, shoemakers, tanners,
pewterers, bakers, brewers, glovers, cutlers, smiths, farriers,
curriers, sadlers, spurriers, turners, capj)ers, hatmakers or
46 Elizabeth. [ises.
felt makers, bowyer?, fletchers, arrowhead-makers, butchers,
cooks or millers.
III. Every person being unmarried and every other person
being under the age of thirty years that after the feast of
Easter next shall marry, and having been brought up in any of
the said arts [&c.] or that hath exercised any of them by the
space of three years or more, and not having lands, tenements
[&c.] copyhold or freehold of an estate of inheritance or for
term of lives of the clear yearly value of 40*. nor being worth
of his own goods the clear value of £10 . . ., not being retained
with any person in husbandry or in any of the aforesaid arts
. • . nor in any other art, nor in household or in any office
with any nobleman, gentleman or others . . ., nor having a
convenient farm or other holding in tillage whereupon he may
employ liis labour, shall (during the time that he shall so be
unmarried or under the age of 30 years), upon request made by
any person using the art or mystery wherein the said person so
required hath been exercised as is aforesaid, be retained and
shall not refuse to serve according to the tenor of this Statute
upon the pain and penalty hereafter mentioned.
IV. No person which shall retain any servant shall put
away his said servant, and no person retained according to this
Statute shall depart from Ids master, mistress or dame before
the end of his term, upon the pain hereafter mentioned, unless
it be for some reasonable cause to be allowed before two
Justices of Peace or one at the least or before the mayor or
other chief oiBcer of the city, borough or town coi-porate
wherein the said master [&c.] iuhabiteth, to whom any of the
parties grieved shall complain ; which said justices or chief
officer shall have the hearing and ordering of the matter between
the said master [&c.] and servant, according to the equity of
the cause ; and no such master [&c.] shall put away any such
servant at the end of his term or any such servant depart from
his said master [&c.] at the end of his term without one quarter
warning given . . upon the pain hereafter ensuing.
V. Every person between the age of 12 years and the age
of 60 years not being lawfully retained Eor apprentice with
any fisherman or mariner haunting the seas, nor being in
service with any carrier of any corn, grain or meal for pro-
1563.] Labourers and Apprentices. 47
vision of the city of London, nor with any husbandman in
husbandly, nor in any city [&c.] in any of the arts . . . ap-
pointed by this Statute to have apprentices, nor being retained
. . . for the digging . . . melting . . . making of any silver [or
other metals, coal, &c.], nor being occupied in the making of
any glass, nor being a gentleman born, nor being a student or
scholar in any of the universities or in any school, nor having
[lands'or goods, as above, § 3], nor having a father or mother
then living or other ancestor whose heir apparent he is then
having lands [&c.] of the yearly value of £10 or above, or
goods or chattels of the value of £40, nor being a necessary or
convenient ofl&cer or servant lawfully retained as is aforesaid, nor
having a convenient farm or holding . . . nor being otherwise
lawfully retained according to the true meaning of this Statute,
shall ... by virtue of this Statute be compelled to be retained
to serve in husbandry by the year with any person that keepeth
husbandry and will require any such person so to serve.
VI. [Penalty on masters unduly dismissing servants, 40s. :
on servants unduly departing or refusing to serve, imprison-
ment.]
VII. None of the said retained persons in husbandry or in
any of the arts or sciences above remembered, after the time of
his retainer expired, shall depart forth of one city, town or
parish to another nor out of the . . . hundred nor out of the
county where he last served, to serve in any other city . . .
or county, unless he have a testimonial under the seal of the
said city or of the constable or other head officer and of two
other honest householders of the city, town or parish where he
last served, declaring his lawful departure . . ., which testi-
monial shall be delivered unto the said servant and also
registered by the parson of the parish where such master [&c.]
shall dwell . . .
VIII. [Penalty on a servant departing without such testi-
monial, imprisonment or whipping ; on any one hiring him, .£5.]
IX. All artificers and labourers being hired for wages by
the day or week shall betwixt the midst of the months of
March and September be at their work at or before 5 of the
clock in the morning, and continue at work until betwixt
7 and 8 of the clock at night, except it be in the time of break-
48 Elizabeth. [i563.
fast, dinner or drinking, the which times at the most shall not
exceed above 2\ hours in the day . . . and all the said artificers
and labourers between the midst of September and the midst
of March shall be at their work from the spring of the day in
the morning until the night of the same day, except it be in
time afore appointed for breakfast and dinner, upon pain to
forfeit one penny for every hour's absence to be deducted out of
his wages.
X. [Penalty on artificers, &c. breaking contract with em-
ployers, imprisonment and fine of £5.]
XI. And for the declaration what wages servants, labourers
and artificers, either by the year or day or otherwise, shall
receive, be it enacted, That the justices of the peace of every
shire . . . within the limits of their several commissions . . . and
the sheriff of that county if he conveniently may, and every
mayor, bailiff or other head officer within any city . . . wherein
is any justice of peace, within the limits of the said city . . .
shall before the loth day of June next coming and afterward
yearly at every general sessions first to be holdeu after Easter,
or at some time convenient within six weeks next following
Easter, calling unto them such discreet and grave persons of
the said county or city as they shall think meet, and conferring
together respecting the plenty or scarcity of the time and other
circumstances necessary to be considered, have authority within
the limits of their several commissions to rate and appoint the
wages as well of such of the said artificers ... or any other
labourer, servant or workman whose wages in time past hath
been by any law rated and appointed, as also the wages of all
other labourers, artificers [&c.] which have not been rated, as
they sliall think meet to be rated [&c.] by the year or by the
day, week, month or otherwise, with meat and drink or without
meat and drink, and what wages every workman or labourer
shall take by the great for mowing, reaping or threshing [and
other agricultural employment] and for any other kind of
reasonable labours or service, and shall j'early before the 12th
day of July next after the said assessment made certify the same
. . . with the considerations and causes thereof into the Court
of Chancery ; whereupon it shall be lawlul to the Lord Chancellor
of England [or] Lord Keeper upon declaration thereof to tJie
1563.] Labourers and Apprentices. 49
Queen's Majesty ... or to the Lords and others of the Privy
Council to cause to be printed and sent down before the ist day
of September next after the said certificate into every county
. . . proclamations containing the several rates appointed . . .
with commandment ... to all persons . . . straitly to observe
the same, and to all Justices [&c.] to see the same duly and
severely observed . . . ; upon receipt whereof the said Sheriffs,
Justices [&c.] shall cause the same proclamation to be entered
of record . . . and shall forthwith in open markets upon the
market days before Michaelmas then ensuing cause the same
proclamation to be proclaimed . . . and to be fixed in some
convenient place . . . : and if the said sheriffs, justices [&c.]
shall at their said general sessions or at any time after within
six weeks . . . think it convenient to retain for the year then to
come the rates of wages that they certified the year before or to
change them, then they shall before the said 12th day of July
yearly certify into the said Court of Chancery their resolutions,
to the intent that proclamations may accordingly be renewed
and sent down, and if it shall happen that there be no need of
any alteration . . . then the proclamations for the year past
shall remain in force . . .
XII. [Penalty on Justices absent from sessions for rating
wages, £5.]
• XIII, [Penalty for giving wages higher than the rate, ten
days' imprisonment and fine of £5; for receiving the same,
twenty-one days' imprisonment.]
XIV. [Penalty on servants, &c. assaulting masters, &c., one
year's imprisonment.]
XV. Provided that in the time of hay or corn harvest the
Justices of Peace and also the constable or other head officer of
every township upon request . . . may cause all such artificei's
and persons as be meet to labour ... to serve by the day for
the mowing ... or inning of corn, grain and hay, and that none
of the said persons shall refuse so to do, upon pain to suffer
imprisonment in the stocks by the space of two days and one
night . . .
XVI. [Proviso for persons going harvesting into other
counties.]
XYII. Two justices of peace, the mayor or other head officer
£
50 Elizabeth. [i563.
of any city [&c.] and two aldermen or two other discreet
burgesses ... if there be no aldermen, may appoint any such
woman as is of the age of 1 2 years and under the age of 40
years and unmarried and forth of service ... to be retained or
serve by the year or by the week or day for such wages and in
such reasonable sort as they shall think meet ; and if any such
woman shall refuse so to serve, then it shall be lawful for the
said justices [&c.] to commit such woman to ward until she shall
be bounden to serve as aforesaid.
XVIII. And for the better advancement of husbandry and
tillage and to the intent that such as are fit to be made
apprentices to husbandry may be bounden thereunto . . . every
person being a householder and having half a ploughland at the
least in tillage may receive as an apprentice any person above
the age of 10 years and under the age of 18 years to serve in
husbandry until his age of 21 years at the least, or until the
age of 24 years as the parties can agree . . .
XIX. Every person being an householder and 24 years old
at the least, dwelling in any city or town corporate and exercis-
ing any art, mystery or manual occupation there, may after the
feast of St John Baptist next coming . . . retain the son of any
freeman not occupying husbandry nor being a labourer and
inhabiting in the same or in any other city or town incorporate,
to be bound as an apprentice after the custom and order of the
city of London for 7 years at the least, so as the term of such
apprentice do not expire afore such apprentice shall be of the
age of 24 years at the least.
XX. Provided that it shall not be lawful to any person
dwelling in any city or town corporate exercising any of the
mysteries or crafts of a merchant trafficking into any parts
beyond the sea, mercer, draper, goldsmith, ironmonger, em-
broiderer or clothier that doth put cloth to making and sale, to
take any apprentice or servant to be instructed in any of the
arts [&c.] which they exercise, except such servant or apprentice
be his son, or else that the father or mother of such apprentice
or servant shall have . . . lauds, tenements [&c.] of the clear
yearly value of 40,r. of one estate of inheritance or freehold at
the least . . .
XXI. From and after the said feast of St John the Baptist
1563.] Labourers and Apprentices. 51
next, it shall be lawful to every person being an householder
and 24 years old at the least and not occupying husbandry nor
being a labourer dwelling in any town not being incorporate
that is a market town . . . and exercising any art, mystery or
manual occupation ... to have in like manner to apprentices
the children of any other artificer not occupying husbandry nor
being a labourer, which shall inhabit in the same or in any
other such market town within the same shire, to serve as
apprentices as is aforesaid to any such art [&c.] as hath been
usually exercised in any such market town where such ap-
pi'entice shall be bound.
XXII. Provided that it shall not be lawful to any person
dwelling in any such market town exercising the art of a
merchant trafficking into the parts beyond the seas, mercer
[&c. as above, § XX] to take any apprentice or in any wise to
instruct any person in the arts [&c.] last before recited, after
the feast of St John Baptist aforesaid, except such servant or
apprentice shall be his son, or else that the father or mother of
such ap)prentice shall have lands [&c.] of the clear yearly value
of £3 of one estate of inlieritance or freehold at the least . . .
XXIII. From and after the said feast it shall be lawful to
any person exercising the art of a smith, wheelwright, plough-
wright, millwright, carpenter, I'ough mason, plaisterer, sawyer,
lime-burner, brickmaker, bricklayer, tiler, slater, healyer, tile-
maker, linen weaver, turner, cooper, millers, earthen potters,
woollen weaver weaving housewives' or household cloth only
and none other, cloth-fuller otherwise called tucker or walker,
burner of ore and wood ashes, thatcher or shingler, wheresoever
he shall dwell, to have the son of any person as apprentice . . .
albeit the father or mother of any such apprentice have not any
lands, tenements or hereditaments.
XXIV. After the first day of May next coming it shall not
be lawful to any person, other than such as now do lawfully
exercise any art, mystery or manual occupation, to exercise any
craft now used within the realm of England or Wales, except
he shall have been brought up therein seven years at the least
as apprentice in manner abovesaid, nor to set any person on
work in such occupation being not a workman at this day,
except he shall have been apprentice as is aforesaid, or else
E 2
52 Elizabeth. [i563.
having served as an apprentice will become a journeyman or be
hired by the year ; upon pain that every person willingly
offending shall forfeit for every default 40«. for every month.
XXV. Provided that no person exercising the art of a woollen
cloth weaver, other than such as be inhabiting within the
counties of Cumberland, Westmoreland, Lancaster and Wales,
weaving friezes, cottons or housewives' cloth only, making and
weaving woollen cloth commonly sold by any clothier, shall have
any apprentice or shall instruct any person in the science of
weaving aforesaid in any place (cities, towns corporate and
market towns only except), unless such person be his son, or
else that the father or mother of such apprentice or servant
shall . . . have lands [&c.] to the clear yearly value of £3 of an
estate of inheritance or freehold . . . upon pain of forfeiture of
20s. for eveiy month . . .
XXVI. Every person that shall have three apprentices in
any of the said crafts of a cloth maker, fuller, shearman, weaver,
tailor or shoemaker shall keep one journeyman, and for every
other apprentice above the number of the said three apprentices
one other joui-neyman, upon pain of every default therein £10.
XXVII. [Proviso for worsted-makers of Norwich.]
XXVIII. If any peison shall be required by any householder
having half a ploughland at the least in tillage to be an
apprentice and to serve in husbandry or in any other kind of
art before expressed and shall refuse so to do, then upon the
complaint of such housekeeper made to one Justice of Peace of
the county Avherein the said refusal is made, or of such house-
holder inhabiting in any city, town corporate, or market town
to the mayor, bailiffs or head officer of the said city [&c.] . . .
they shall have full power to send for the same person so
refusing; and if the said Justice or head officer shall think the
said person meet to serve as an apprentice in that art . . . the
said Justice or head officer shall have power ... to commit him
unto ward, there to remain until he will be bounden to serve . . .
and if any such master shall evil entreat his apprentice . . .
or the apprentice do not his duty to his master, then the said
master or apprentice being grieved shall repair unto one Justice
of Peace within the said county or to the head officer of the
place where the said master dwelleth, who shall . . . take such
1563.] Labourers and Apprentices. S^
order and direction between the said master and his apprentice as
the equity of the case shall require ; and if for want of good
conformity in the said master the said Justice or head officer
cannot compound the matter between him and his apprentice,
then the said Justice or head officer shall take bond of the said
master to appear at the next sessions then to be holden in the
said county or within the said city [&c.] . . . and upon his appear-
ance and hearing of the matter ... if it be thought meet unto
them to discharge the said apprentice, then the said Justices
or four of them at the least, whereof one to be of the quorum,
or the said head officer, with the consent of three other of his
brethren or men of best reputation Avithin the said city [&c.],
shall have power ... to pronounce that they have discharged
the said apprentice of his apprenticehood . . . : and if the
default shall be found to be in the apprentice, then the said
Justices or head officer, with the assistants aforesaid, shall cause
such due punishment to be ministered unto him as by their
wisdom and discretions shall be thought meet.
XXIX. Provided that no person sliall by force of this Statute
be bounden to enter into any apprenticeship other than such as
be under the age of 2 1 years.
XXX. And to the end that this Statute may from time to
time be . . . put in good execution ... be it enacted, That the
Justices of Peace of every county, dividing themselves into
several limits, and likewise every mayor or head officer of any
city or town corporate, shall yearly between the feast of
St Michael the Archangel and the Nativity of our Lord, and
between the feast of the Annunciation of our Lady and the
feast of the nativity of St John Baptist . . . make a special and
diligent inquiry of the branches and articles of this Statute and
of the good execution of the same, and where they shall find any
defaults to see the same severely corrected and punished without
favour ... or displeasure.
XXXI. . . . Every Justice of Peace, mayor, or head officer, for
every day that he shall sit in the execution of this Statute, shall
have allowed unto him 5s. to be paid ... of the fines [&c.] due
by force of this Statute . . .
XXXII. [Procedure for recovery of penalties.]
XXXIII. Provided always that this Act shall not be prejudi-
54 Elizabeth. [ises.
cial to the cities of London and Norwich, or to the lawful
liberties [&c.] of the same cities for the having of apprentices.
XXXIV. [Contracts of apprenticeship contrary to this Act to
be void, and a penalty of £io.]
XXXV. [Contracts of apprenticeship to hold good though
made while the apprentice is under age.]
5 Eliz. Cap. XXIX.
An Act for the Confirmation of a Subsidy granted by the Clergy.
I. AVhere the prelates and clergy of the province of Canterbury
have most lovingly and liberally, for certain considerations,
given and granted to the Queen's Majesty a subsidy of 6*. of
the pound, to be taken and levied of all and singular the
spiritual promotions within the same province during the term
of three years now next ensuing, in such certain manner and
form, and with such exceptions and provisions, as be specified
and contained in a certain instrument by them thereof made
and delivered to the Queen's Highness, . . . which instrument
is now exhibited in this present Parliament to be ratified ; the
tenor whereof ensueth in these words :
The prelates and clergy of the province of Canterbury, being
lawfully congregated and assembled » together in a Convocation
or Synod, calling to their remembrance the great and manifold
benefits which they have many and sundry ways received of
your Majesty's most gracious bountifulness, principally for the
setting forth and advancing of God's holy Word, his sincere and
true religion, and abolishing all foreign power contrary to the
same, . . . have given and granted, and by these presents do
give and grant, to your Highness, your heirs and successors,
one subsidy in manner and form following, that is to say : that
every archbishop, bishop, dean, archdeacon, prebendary, provost,
master of college, master of hospitals, parson, vicar, and every
other parson of whatsoever name or degree he be, enjoying any
spiritual promotion or other temporal possessions to the same
spiritual promotion annexed . . . shall pay to your Highness,
your heirs and successors, for every pound that he may yearly
dispend by reason of the said spiritual pi'omotion, the sum
of 6s. : and for the true and certain value of the said promo-
1563.] Clerical Subsidy. ^^
tions . . . the valuation remaining of record in your Majesty's
Court of Exchequer, for the true payment of the perpetual
disme . . . shall be followed . . . ; provided always that, foras-
much as the tenth part of the said valuation and rate before
mentioned is yearly paid to your Highness for the perpetual
disme, so as there remaineth only nine parts to the incumbent
clear, this subsidy of 6s. the pound shall be understanded only
of the same nine parts and of no more : provided always, that
no parson that is already promoted to any spiritual benefice or
promotion since the last day of September last past, or that
hereafter shall be promoted to any spiritual benefice or promo-
tion on this side the last day of September 1565, by reason
whereof they may be charged to the payment of the first fruits,
shall be charged . . . with any part of this subsidy during the first
year of his said promotion : and your said prelates and clergy
also do grant that this subsidy of 6s. the pound . . . shall be paid
to your Majesty, your heirs or successors, within three years
next ensuing the date hereof, that is to say, 2s. of every pound
in every of the said three years . . . ; and to be delivered and
paid yearly by such person and persons as in tliis present grant
shall be appointed to have the collection thereof to the Lord
High Treasurer or Under-Treasurer of England for the time
being, or to such person or persons and in such place or places
as it shall please your Highness to appoint . . ,
Item, We your said Grace's prelates and clergy also do grant,
that every priest and all other spiritual or ecclesiastical persons,
having any pension by reason of the dissolution of any the late
monasteries, ... or of any other spiritual dignity or corporation
now dissolved within the said province of Canterbury, shall
likewise pay to your Highness, your heirs and successors, 6s.
of every pound of the said pensions within the said three years,
, . . Item, Your said prelates and clergy further do grant that
every archbishop and bishop, and the see being void every Dean
and Chapter of that see void, shall be collectors of this subsidy
within their proper diocese during the said three years, other
than of the pensioners aforesaid ; . . . and 6d. of every pound
wherewith the collector shall be charged in his account, . . .
shall be allowed to the said collector for his said account for the
same, for the charges and collection ... of the said subsidy : . . .
$6 Elizabeth. [15 63.
provided always, that every incumbent making such default of
payment . . . shall forfeit and lose only that his benefice or pro-
motion for which he maketh default . . . : provided always that
no spiritual promotion or any lands, possessions or revenues
annexed to the same, ... or any goods or chattels growing of
the same or appertaining to the owners of the said spiritual
promotion shall be made contributory to any fifteen or tenth or
any other subsidy already granted to your Highness by the
laity or hereafter to be granted during the term of the said
three years : . . . provided always, that all parsons and vicars
whose benefices be of the valuation of £5 or under . . . shall
not be charged with this subsidy ; provided also that every
priest and all other late ecclesiastical persons, having a pension
by reason of the dissolution of the late monasteries ... or any
other incorporations within the province of Canterbury, and
being of the sum of 40s. or under, shall not be charged to this
said subsidy, . . . : and for the true and sure payment of this
subsidy . . . your said prelates and clergy most humbly desire
your Highness that this their said gift . . . may be ratified by
authority of this your Highness' court of Parliament.
"Wherefore for the true and sure payment of the said subsidy
... be it enacted by the Queen's Majesty with the assent of the
Lords spiritual and temporal and the Commons in this present
parliament assembled and by the authority of the same, That
the said gift and grant . . . may be ratified, established and con-
firmed by the authority aforesaid.
IV. And be it further enacted, That all grants of all sums
of money which hereafter shall be granted to the Queen's
Majesty by the clergy of the province of York shall be of the
same effect as the said grant made by the said province of
Canterbury ; and shall be taxed . . . and paid according to the
tenor of the present Act of Parliament. . . .
1566-1571.] Benefit of Clergy: Treason. 57
Second Parliament: Second Session.
Sept. 30, 1566— Jan. 2, 1567.
8 Eliz. Cap. IV.
An Act to take, away the Benefit of Clergy from certain felonious
Offenders.
Where a certain kind of evil-disposed persons, commonly
called cut-purses, or pick-purses, but indeed by the laws of this
land very felons and thieves, do confeder together, making among
themselves, as it were, a brotherhood or fraternity of an art or
mystery to live idly by the secret spoil of the good and true
subjects of this realm. ... Be it therefore enacted, That no
person which hereafter shall happen to be indicted or appealed
for felonious taking of any money, goods, or chattels from the
person of any other . . . and thereupon found guilty by verdict
of twelve men . . . shall from henceforth be admitted to have
the benefit of his clergy, but . . . sliall suffer death in such
manner and form, as they should if they were no clerks . . .
Third Parliament.
April 2— May 29, 1571.
13 Eliz. Cap. I.
An Act whereby certain offences he made treason.
I. Forasmuch as it is of some doubted, whether the laws and
statutes of this realm, remaining at this present in force are
vailable and sufficient enough for the surety and preservation
of the Queen's most royal person, in whom consisteth all the
happiness and comfort of the whole state and subjects of the
realm, ... be it enacted, That if any person at any time
after the last day of June next . . . compass . . . the death
or destruction or any bodily harm tending to death, destruction,
maim or wounding of . . . our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth ;
5^ Elizabeth. [1571.
or to deprive or depose her of tlie style, honour or kingly name
of the imperial crown of this realm or of any other realm or
dominion to her Majesty belonging ; or to levy war against
her Majesty within this realm or without ; or to move any
foreigners with force to invade this realm or the realm of
Ireland or any other her Majesty's dominions . . . , and such
compasses . . . shall . . . expressly utter or declare by any printing,
writing ... or sayings ; or if any person . . . shall . . . say . . .
that our said Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth, during her life is
not or ought not to be Queen of this realm of England and also
of the realms of France and Ireland ; or that any other person
ought of right to be king or queen of the said realms . . . during
her Majesty's life ; or shall by writing, printing, ... or sayings
. . . affirm that the Queen ... is an heretic, schismatic, tyrant,
infidel or an usurper of the crown . . . that then all such offences
shall be deemed ... to be high treason ; and that as well the
principal offender or offenders therein as all and every the
abettors . . . , being thereof lawfully . . . convicted and attainted
according to the usual order of the common laws of this realm
or according to the Act^ made in the 35th year of the reign of
the late king . . . Henry the Eighth . . . entitled an Act con-
cerning the trial of treasons [&c.] . . . , shall be deemed traitors
to the Queen and the realm, and shall suffer pains of death and
also forfeit unto the Queen's Majesty, her heirs and successors,
all lands . . . goods and chattels, as in cases of high treason . . .
ought to be forfeited and lost.
II. And be it also enacted. That every person . . . which
shall after the end of thirty days next after the last day of this
present session of this parliament, at any time in the life of
our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth, in any Avise claim ... to
have right or title to . . . the crown of England during the life
of our said Sovereign Lady ; or shall usurp the same crown or
the royal style, title or dignity ... in the life of our said
Sovereign Lady ; or shall affirm that our said Sovereign Ladj^
hath not right to hold the said crown [&c.] ; or shall not after
any demand on our said Sovereign Ladj 's part . . . acknowledge
our Siiid Sovereign Lady to be . . , lawful Queen of this realm ;
they and every of them so offending shall be uttei'ly disabled . . .
1 35 H. VIII. 2.
1571.] Treason. 59
to have . . . the crown or realm of England ... in succession,
inheritance or otherwise after the decease of our said Sovereign
Lady, as if such person were naturallj'^ dead ; . . .
III. And be it farther enacted, That if any person shall
during the Queen's Majesty's life in anyAvise affirm or maintain
any right ... in succession or inheritance to the crown of
England after our said Sovereign Lady the Queen to be lawfully
due unto any such claimer, pretender ... or not acknowledger, so
that the Queen shall by proclamation . . . notify or declare such
claiming ... or not acknowledging, then every person which
after such proclamation shall . . . affirm any right in succession
... to be in any such claimer [&c.] shall be a high traitor and
suffer and forfeit as in cases of high treason is accustomed.
IV. And be it further enacted. That if any person shall affirm
or maintain that the common laws of this realm not altered by
Parliament ought not to direct the right of the crown of Eng-
land, or that our said Sovereign Lady Elizabeth . . ., with and
by the authority of the Parliament of Enghmd, is not able to
make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to limit
and bind the crown of this realm and the descent . . . thereof,
or that this present statute or any other statute to be made by
the authority of the Parliament of England with the royal
assent . . . for limiting of the crown, or any statute for recog-
nizing the right of the said crown and realm to be justly and
lawfully in . . . our said Sovereign Lady the Queen, is not . . .
of good and sufficient force . . . ; every such person so affirming
during the life of the Queen's Majesty shall be judged a high
traitor and suffer and forfeit as in cases of high treason is
accustomed ; . . .
V. And for the avoiding of contentions and seditions,
spreading abroad of titles to the succession of the crown of
this realm ... be it enacted, That wliosoever shall hereafter
during the life of our said Sovereign Lady, by any book or
work printed or written . . . affirm at any time before the same
be by Act of Parliament of this realm established, . . . that any
person is or ought to be the right heir and successor to the
Queen's Majesty . . . except the same be the natural issue of
her Majesty's body, or shall . . . publish . . . any books or scrolls
to that effect, . . . that he, their abettors [&c.] shall for the first
6o Elizabeth. [1571.
offence suffer imprisonment of one whole year and forfeit half
his goods, whereof the one moiety to the Queen's Majesty, the
other moiety to him or them that will sue for the same ... in
any of the Queen's Majesty's courts ; . . • and if any shall
eftsoons offend therein, then they and their ahettors [&c.] shall
incur the pains and forfeitures which in the Statute of Provision
or Prsemunire are appointed and limited.
VI. Provided alway ; That if it shall happen hereafter any
peer of this realm to be indicted of any offence made treason by
this Act, he shall have his trial by his peers, as in other cases of
treason is accustomed.
VIII. Provided also . . . That no person shall in any wise be
arraigned for any of the offences mentioned in this Act to be
committed within any the Queen's dominions, unless the offender
be thereof there indicted within six months next after the same
offence committed ; . . . and that no person shall in any wise be
arraigned for any the offences mentioned in this act to be committed
out of any the Queen's dominions, unless the offender be thereof
indicted within one year next after the same offence committed , . .
IX. Provided also . . . That no person shall be hereafter
arraigned for any offence mentioned in this Act, unless the same
offence be proved by the . . . oath of two lawful and sufficient
witnesses ; which said witnesses shall, at the time of the
arraignment of such person so offending, be brought forth in
person before the party so arraigned face to face, and there
shall avow and openly declare all they can say against the party
so arraigned, unless the said party arraigned shall willingly
without violence confess the same . . .
13 Eliz. Cap. II.
An Act against the bringing in and putting in execution of Bulls
and other instruments from tJie see of Rome.
Where in the parliament holden at Westminster, in the fifth
year of the reign of our Sovereign Lady the Queen's Majesty
that now is, by one Act^ and Statute then and there made,
intituled, An Act for the assurance of the Queen's Majesty's
Iioyal Power [&c.j it is among other things very well ordained
* 5 Eliz. I.
1571.] Introduction of Papal Bulls, etc. 6i
and jirovided, for the abolishing of the usurped power and
jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome . . . That no person shall . . .
maintain, defend, or extol the same usurped power, or attribute
any manner jurisdiction, authority or preeminence to the same
to be used within this realm . . . upon pain to incur the
penalties provided by the Statute of Provision and Praemu-
nire . . . : and yet nevertheless, divers seditious and very evil-
disposed people . . . minding, as it should seem, very seditiously
and unnaturally not only to bring this realm and the imperial
crown thereof (being in very deed of itself most free) into the
thraldom and subjection of that foreign, usurped, and unlawful
jurisdiction [&c.J claimed by the said see of Eome ; but also to
estrange and alienate the minds and hearts of sundry her
Majesty's subjects from their dutiful obedience, and to raise and
stir sedition and rebellion within this realm . . . have lately
procured and obtained to themselves from the said Bishop of
Rome and his said see, divers bulls and writings, the effect
whereof hath been and is to absolve and reconcile all those that
will be contented to forsake their due obedience to our most
gracious Sovereign Lady the Queen's Majesty, and to yield and
subject themselves to the said feigned, unlawful and usurped
authority ; and by colour of the said bulls and writings, the
said wicked persons very secretly and most seditiously, in such
parts of this realm where the people for want of good instruction
are most weak, simple and ignorant, and thereby farthest from
the good understanding of their duties towards God and the
Queen's Majesty, have by their lewd and subtle practices and
persuasions, so far forth wrought, that sundry simple and
ignorant persons have been contented to be reconciled to the
said usurped authority of the see of Rome, and to take absolution
at the hands of the said naughty and subtle practisers, whereby
hath grown great disobedience and boldness in many, not only
to withdraw and absent themselves from all divine service . . .
but also have thought themselves discharged of all obedience to
her Majesty, whereby most wicked and unnatural rebellion hath
ensued, and to the further danger of this realm is hereafter veiy
like to be renewed, if the ungodly and wicked attempts in that
behalf be not by severity of laws in time restrained and bridled :
For remedy and redress whereof, and to prevent the great
62 Elizabeth. [1571.
mischiefs and inconveniences that thereby may ensue, be it
enacted . . , That if any person, after the first day of July
next coming, shall use or put in ure in any place within this
realm . . . any Fuch bull, writing, or instrument ... of abso-
lution or reconciliation . . . , or if any person after the said
first day of July shall take upon him, by colour of any such
bull ... or authority, to absolve or reconcile any person . . . ,
or if any person within this realm, . . . after the said firdt day
of July, shall willingly receive any such absolution or recon-
ciliation ; or else, if any person have obtained since the lafct day
of the parliament holden in the first year of the Queen's
Majesty's reign, or after the said first day of July shall obtain
from the said Bishop of Rome . . . any manner of bull ... or
instrument . . . , or shall publish or by any ways or means
put in ure any such bull . . . , That then every such act . . . shall
be deemed by the authority of this Act to be high treason, and
the offenders therein, their procurers [&c.] . . . shall be deemed
high traitors to the Queen and the realm ; and being thereof
lawfully indicted and attainted according to the course of the
laws of this realm, shall suffer pains of death, and also forfeit
all their lands [&c.] as in cases of high treason by the laws of
this realm ought to be forfeited.
II. And be it further enacted, That all aiders [&c.] of any
the said offenders, after the committing of any the said acts . . .
shall incur the penalties contained in the Statute of Praemu-
nire . . .
III. Provided always . . . That if any person to whom any
such absolution ... or instrument as is aforesaid shall, after the
said first day of July, be offered . . . shall conceal the same . . .
and not disclose and signify the same . . . within six weeks then
next following, to some of the Queen's Majesty's Privy Council,
or else to the President or Vice President of the Queen's
Majesty's Council established in the north parts, or in the
marches of Wales . . . that then the same person so concealing
. . the said offer . . . shall incur the penalty of misprision
of high treason.
IV. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall at
any time after the said first day of Jvdy bring into this realm of
England . . . any . . . thing called by the name of an Agnus
1571.] Introduction of Papal Bulls, etc. 6^
Dei, or any crosses, pictures, beads or such-like vain and
superstitious things, from the Bishop or see of Eome . . . and
divers pardons, immunities and exemptions granted by the
authority of the said see, to such as shall receive and use the
same ; and that if the same person so bringing in as is afore-
said such Agnus Dei and other like things as be before
specified, shall deliver . . . the same to any subject of this
realm ... to be worn or used in any wise : That then as well
the same person so doing, as also every other person which
shall receive the same, to the intent to use or wear the same,
being thereof lawfully convicted and attainted by the order of
the common laws of this realm, shall incur into the penalties
ordained by the Statute of Praemunire and Provision , . .
VI. And be it further enacted, That all persons which at any
time since the beginning of the first year of the Queen's
Majesty's reign have brought . . . into this realm any such
bulls [&c.] . . . and now have any of the same bulls [&c.] in
their custody, and shall within the space of three months next
after the end of any session or dissolution of this present
parliament deliver all such bulls [&c.] ... to the bishop of the
diocese where such absolution hath been given and received . . .
and shall publicly before such bishop confess their offence
therein and liumbly desire to be restored ... to the Church of
England, shall be clearly pardoned and discharged of all
offences done in any matter concerning any of the said bulls [&c.]
touching such absolution or reconciliation only ; and that all
persons which have received any absolution from the said
Bishop of Rome . . . since the said first year of the reign of our
said Sovereign Lady the Queen, and shall within the said space
of three months next after any session or dissolution of this
present parliament, come before the bishop of the diocese of
such place where such absolution or reconciliation was had or
made, and shall publicly before the same bishop confess . . .
their offence therein, and humbly desire to be restored, and
admitted to the Church of England, shall be clearly pardoned
and discharged of all offences committed in any matter con-
cerning the said bulls [&c.] touching only receiving such
absolution or reconciliation . . .
VIII. [Peers to be tried by Peers. J
64 Elizabeth. [1571.
13 Eliz. Cap. XII.
An A ct to reform certain disorders touching Ministers of tlie
Church.
T. Tliat the churches of the Queen's Majesty's dominions
may be served with pastors of sound religion, Be it enacted . . .
That every person under the degree of a Bisliop, which doth
or shall pretend to be a priest or minister of God's Holy Word
and Sacraments, by reason of any other form of institution,
consecration or ordering, than the form set forth by parlia-
ment in the time of the late king of most worthy memory.
King Edward the Sixth, or now used in the reign of our most
gracious Sovereign Lady, before the feast di the Nativity of
Clirist next following, shall, in the presence of the Bishop or
guardian of the spiritualities of some one diocese where he
hath ecclesiastical living, declare his assent and subscribe to all
the Articles of Religion which only concern the confession of
the true Christian faith and the doctrine of the sacraments,
comprised in a book imprinted, intituled, Articles whereupon
it was agreed by the archbishops and bishops of both provinces
and the whole clergy in the Convocation holden at London in
... 1562 ... , upon pain that every such person which shall
not before the said feast do as is above appointed, shall be ipso
facto deprived, and all his ecclesiastical promotions shall be
void, as if he were then naturally dead.
IL And that if any person ecclesiastical, or which shall have
ecclesiastical living, shall advisedly maintain or affirm any
doctrine directly contrary to any of the said articles, and being
convented before the bishop of the diocese or the ordinary, or
before the Queen's Highness' Commissioners in causes eccle-
siastical, shall persist therein, . . . such maintaining . . . shall
be just cause to deprive such person of his ecclesiastical pro-
motions ; and it shall be lawful to the bishop of the diocese
or the ordinary or the said commissioners to deprive such
person so persisting, . . . and upon such sentence of deprivation
pronounced he shall be indeed deprived.
IIL And that no person shall hereafter be admitted to any
benefice with cure, except he then be of the age of three and
1572.] Rebellion and Conspiracy. 65
twenty years at the least, and a deacon, and shall fii'st have
subscribed the said Articles in presence of the ordinary, and
imblicly read the same in the parish church of that benefice,
with declaration of his unfeigned assent to the same . . .
IV. And that none shall be made minister or admitted to
preach or minister the sacraments, being under the age of four
and twenty years, nor unless he first bring to the bishop of that
diocese, from men known to the bishop to be of sound religion,
a testimonial both of his honest life, and of his professing the
doctrine expressed in the said Articles : nor unless he be able
to answer and render to the ordinary an account of his faith in
Latin, according to the said Articles, or have special gift and
ability to be a preacher: nor shall be admitted to the order of
deacon or ministry, unless he shall first subscribe to the said
Articles.
V. And that none hereafter shall be admitted to any benefice
with cure of or above the value of £30 yearly . . . unless he
shall then be a bachelor of divinity, or a preacher lawfully
allowed by some bishop within this realm or by one of the
universities of Cambridge or Oxford.
Fourth Parliament: First Session.
May 8— June 30, 1572.
14 Eliz. Cap. I.
An Act for the 2>unishment of such as shall rebelUously take or
detain or conspire to take or detain from the Queen's Majesty
any of her castles, towers, fortresses, holds, <&c.
I. For the better avoiding of all such unlawful practices ... as
lately have been stirred and moved by some evil disposed
persons against our most gracious Sovereign Lady the Queen,
... be it enacted . . . That if any persons whatsoever at any
time hereafter do, within this realm or elsewhere, unlawfully
. . . conspire . . . maliciously and rebelliously to take or to
detain from our said Sovereign Lady the Queen any of her
1'
66 Elizabeth. [1572.
castles . . ., or maliciously and rebelliously to raze, burn or
destroy any castle . . . having any munition or ordnance of
the Queen's Majesty's therein or appointed to be guarded with
any soldiers for defence thereof within this realm . . . , and the
same . . . conspiracies shall advisedly . . . express, utter or declare
for any the malicious and rebellious intents aforesaid, that then
every such person so hereafter offending, their aiders [&c.]
knowing thereof, being thereof lawfully convicted according to
the laws of this realm, shall be judged felons . . . , and the
offenders therein, their said aiders [&c.], being thereof lawfully
convicted, shall suffer pains of death as in cases of felony,
without having any benefit of clergy or sanctuary . . .
II. And be it further enacted, That if any person do at any
time hereafter with force maliciously and rebelliously . . . with-
hold from the Queen's Majesty any of her castles . . . within
this realm . . . or do . . . withhold from her Majesty any of her
ships, ordnance, artillery or other munitions or fortifications
of wars ... or shall . . . burn or destroy . . . any of the Queen's
ships, or . . . bar any haven within any of the Queen's Majesty's
dominions, tliat then every such person so offending, their
aiders [&c.], being thereof lawfully convict according to the
laws of this realm, shall be adjudged traitors, and their offences
in any of the premises shall be taken for high treason, and the
offenders therein . . . shall suffer such pains of death, and also
shall forfeit and lose, as in cases of high treason is limited and
accustomed.
III. This Act to endure during the Queen's Majesty's life that
now is only.
14 Eliz. Cap. II.
An Act against such as shall consjnre or practise the enlargement
of any prisoner committed for high treason.
I. Forasmuch as great danger may ensue to the Queen's
Majesty's person and great trouble to the state of the realm by
unlawful conspiracies ... to set at liberty such persons as be
committed to any custody for any treason touching the royal
person of our said Sovereign Lady ; against which conspiracies
sufficient remedy by the laws of this realm hath not been
1572.] Treason : Vagabonds and Poor. 6y
heretofore had, unless the same conspiracies . . . were executed
and brought to effect : be it therefore enacted . . . That if any
person at any time after the end of this present session of
parliament shall conspire ... to set at liberty any person com-
mitted to any custody by her Highness' especial commandment,
for any treason or suspicion of treason concerning the person
of our said Sovereign Lady the Queen, before any indictment
of such person . . . , and the same conspiracies . . . shall . . .
utter or declare, that then every person so offending shall
incur the penalty and forfeiture of misprision of treason . . .
II. And be it also enacted, That if any person . . . shall . . .
conspire ... to set at liberty any person committed to any
custody, being indicted of any treason in any wise concerning
the person of our said Sovereign Lady the Queen, and the
same conspiracies . . . shall . . . utter or declare, that then every
such person so offending shall be deemed a felon . . .
III. And be it further enacted, That if any person . . . shall
. . . conspire ... to set at liberty any person being committed
to any custody, after the same person shall be attainted or
convicted of any treason in any wise concerning the royal
person of our said Sovereign Lady the Queen, and the same
conspiracies . . . shall . . . utter or declare, tliat then every such
person so offending shall be deemed an high traitor and shall
suffer loss and forfeit as in cashes of high treason by the laws
and statutes of this realm.
IV. This Act to endure during the Queen's Majesty's life
that now is only.
14 Eliz, Cap. V.
An Act for the punishment of vagabonds, and for relief of
the jioor and impotent.
1. Where all the parts of this realm of England and Wales
be ])resently with rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars ex-
ceedingly pestered, by means whereof daily happeneth in the
same realm horrible murders, thefts and other great outrages,
to the high displeasure of Almighty God, and to the great
annoy of the commonweal ; and for avoiding confusion by
reason of numbers of laws concerning the premises standing iu
F 2
68 Elizabeth. [1572.
force together ; be it enacted, That [certain acts ^ recited] shall
be . . , void and of none effect.
II. Be it also enacted . . . first, That all persons above the
age of fourteen years, being hereafter set forth by this Act of
Parliament to be rogues, vagabonds or sturdy beggars and . . .
taken begging in any part of this realm, or taken vagrant
vpaudering and misordering themselves contrary to tlie purport
of this present Act of Parliament , . . , shall upon their appre-
hension be brought before one of the justices of the peace or
mayor or chief officer of cities, boroughs and towns corporate
. . . and ... be presently committed to the common gaol . . . ,
there to remain without bail until the next sessions of the
peace or general gaol delivery . . . ; at which sessions or gaol-
delivery if such person be duly convict of his or her roguish
or vagabond trade of life, either by inquest of office or by the
testimony of two honest and credible witnesses upon their
oaths, that then immediately he or she shall be adjudged to
be grievously whipped and burnt through the gristle of the
right ear with a hot iron of the compass of an inch about . . . ;
which judgment shall also presently be executed, except some
honest person, valued at the last subsidy next before that time
to £5 in goods or 20s. in lands, or else some such honest house-
holder as by the justices of peace . . . shall be allowed, will of
his charity be contented presently to take such offender . . . into
his service for one whole year next following ; . . . and if such
rogue or vagabond so taken into service depart within the said
year from the said service against the will of him that so taketh
him or her into service, that then such rogue or vagabond shall
be whipped and burnt ... as is aforesaid.
IV. And be it further enacted. That ... if after the said
punishment executed . . . the said person , . . after threescore
days next after he shall be so marked, . . . being of the age of
eighteen years or above, do eftsoones fall again to any kind of
roguish or vagabond trade of life, that then the said rogue . . .
be deemed a felon, and shall suffer and forfeit as a felon, except
some honest person valued [as above] of mere charity will be
contented ... to take him or her into his service for two whole
years . . . : and if such rogue or vagabond so taken into service
1 22 H. VIII. 12 : 3 & 4 E. VI. 16 : 5 Eliz. 3.
1572.] Vagabonds and Poor. 69
depart within the same two years from his or her said service
against the will of him that so took him or her, that then such
rogue or vagabond shall be deemed a felon in all respects and
shall suffer and forfeit as a felon . . .
V. And for the full expressing what persons shall be intended
within this branch to be rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars
... it is now set forth . . . that all persons that be or utter
themselves to be proctors or procurators . . . without sufficient
authority . . . , and all other idle persons . . . using subtle, crafty
and unlawful games or plays, and some of them feigning them-
selves to have knowledge in physiognomy, palmistry or other
abused sciences, . . . and all persons being whole and mighty in
body and able to labour, having not land or master nor using
any lawful merchandise, craft or mystery . . . ; and all fencers,
bearwards, common players in interludes and minstrels, not
belonging to any baron of this realm or towards any other
honourable personage of greater degree ; all jugglers, pedlars,
tinkers and petty chapmen; which said fencers [&c.] shall wander
abroad and have not licence of two justices of the peace . . . ;
and all common labourers being persons able in boily using
loitering, and refusing to work for such reasonable wages as is
taxed and commonly given . . . ; and all counterfeiters of licences,
passports and all users of the same, knowing the same to be
counterfeit ; and all scholars of the universities of Oxford or
Cambridge that go about begging, not being authorised under
the seal of the said viniversities . . . ; and all shipmen pre-
tending losses by sea, other than such as shall be hereafter
provided for ; and all persons delivered out of gaols that
beg for their fees . . . not having licence from two justices of
the j)eace . . . , shall be deemed rogues, vagabonds and sturdy
beggars . . .
XVI. And forasmuch as charity would that poor, aged and
impotent persons should as necessarily be provided for, as the
said rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars repressed, and that
the said aged, impotent and poor people should have con-
venient habitations and abiding places throughout this realm to
settle themselves upon, to the end that they nor any of them
should hereafter beg or wander about ; it is therefore enacted,
That the justices of the peace . . . mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, and
70 Elizabeth. [1572.
other officers of every city, borough, riding and francliise . . •
shall at or before the said feast of iSt Bartholomew next coming
. . . make diligent search and inquiry of all aged, poor, im-
potent and decayed persons . . . , which live ... by alms of the
charity of the people . . . , and shall ujion that search made,
make a register book containing the names and surnames of all
such . . . poor people . . . ; and . . . shall . . . appoint . . . meet
and. convenient places by their discretions to settle the same
poor people for their habitations and abidings, if the parish
within the which they shall be found shall not or will not
provide for them ; and shall also . . . number all the said poor
people within their said several limits, and thereupon (having
regard to the number) set down what portion the weekly charge
cowards the relief and sustentation of the said poor people will
amount unto within every their said limits ; and that done,
they . . . shall . . . assess all the inhabitants dwelling . . . within
the said liiuits to such weekly chai'ge as they and every of them
shall weekly contribute towards the relief of the said poor people,
and the names of all such inhabitants taxed shall also enter into
the said register-book together with their taxation; and also
shall . . . appoint or see collectors for one whole year to be
appointed . . . , which shall collect the said proportion, and make
delivery of so much thereof ... to the said poor people, as the
said justices . . . and other officers shall ajipoint them ; and also
shall appoint the overseers of the said poor people by their dis-
cretions, to continue also for one whole year ; and if they do
refuse to be overseers, then every of them so refusing to forfeit
I OS. for every such default.
XVII. And be it further enacted, That the mayor of the city
of London and the mayors . . . and other head officers of every
other city, borough, or town corporate . . . , and the constables
or tithing-men of every hundred, rape and wapentake . . . shall
once every month . . . make a view and search of all the aged,
impotent and lame persons within the precinct of their juris-
dictions, and . . . presently see the same poor people not there
born nor dwelling within the said three years (except lej)rous
people and bedridden people) to be conveyed ... to the next con-
stable, and so from constable to constable the directest way, till
the said persons be brought to the place where he or she was
1572.] Vagabonds and Poor. 7 1
born or most conversant by the space of three years next before,
and there to be put in . . . one of the abiding-places in that
country appointed . . .
XVIII. And be it further enacted, That if any of the said poor
people . . . refuse to be bestowed in any of the said abiding-
places ... or after they be once bestowed ... do depart and
beg, then the said person so offending for the first offence ... to
suffer as a rogue or vagabond in the first degree of punishment
set forth by this Act, and if he do the second time offend, then
to . . . suffer as a rogue or vagabond in the last degree of
punishment set forth by this Act.
XXI. And be it further enacted. That if any person being
able to further this charitable work will obstinately refuse to
give towai'ds the relief of the said poor people or do wilfully
discourage others . . . the said obstinate person . . . shall pre-
sently be brought before two justices of the peace ... to show
the cause of his obstinate refusal or wilful discouragement and
to abide such order therein as the said justices shall appoint ; if
he refuse so to do, then to be committed to the next gaol . . .
there to remain until he be contented with their said order and
do perform the same.
XXII. And it is also further enacted, That if any of the said
aged and impotent persons, not being so . . . impotent but that
they may work in some manner of work, shall be by the overseers
of their said abiding-place appointed to work, if they refuse,
then in form aforesaid to be whipped and stocked for their first
refusal, and for the second refusal to be punished as in case of
vagabonds in the said first degree of punishment.
XXIII. Provided . . . that three justices of peace ... of and
with the surplusages of the said collections and forfeitures, (the
said poor and impotent people satisfied and provided for,) thall
in such convenient places within their said shires as they shall
think meet, place and settle to work the rogues and vagabonds
that shall be disposed to work, born within their said counties
or there abiding for the most part within tlie said three years,
there to be holden to work by the oversight of the said over-
seers, to get their livings and to live and to be sustained only
upon their labour and travail.
XXIV. [Beggars' children may be bound out to service.]
72 Elizabeth. [1572.
XXV. [Forfeitures under this Act to be applied to the relief
of the poor.]
XXVI. And be it further enacted, That three justices of peace
within all the shires of this realm, whereof one to be of the
quorum, shall have full power ... to hear and determine all
causes (except forfeitures of justices of peace) that shall come in
question by reason of this present Act.
XXXVIII. Provided always, that whereas by reason of this
Act the common gaols . . . are like to be greatly pestered with
a more number of prisoners than heretofoi'e hath been ... it
shall be lawful for the justices of peace of every shire, at their
general quarter sessions . . . , to rate and tax every parish
within the said shires at such reasonable sums of money for the
relief of the said prisoners as they shall think convenient, so
that the said taxation doth not exceed above 6d. or id. by the
week out of every parish ; and that the churchwardens of every
parish shall every Sunday levy the same . . .
Fourth Parliament : Second Session.
Feb. 8— March 15, 1576.
1 8 Eliz. Cap. III.
An Act for the setting of the ])oor on work, and for the avoiding
of idleness.
I. For some better explanation and for some needful addition
to the statute [14 Eliz. 5] be it ordained . . .
IV. . . . That in every city and town corporate within this
realm a competent store and stock of wool, hemp, flax, iron or
other stuff by order of the mayor ... or other head officers . . .
shall be provided ; and that likewise in every other market-
town or other place where (to the justices of peace in their
general sessions yearly next after Easter shall be thought most
meet) a like competent store and stock of wool [&c.] or other
stuff' as the countrj'^ is most meet for . . . shall be provided, the
said stores and stocks in such cities and towns corporate to be
committed to the custody of such persons as shall by the mayor
1576.] Workhouses. 73
or other head officers in every such city or town corporate he
appointed, and in other towns and places to such persons as hy
the said justices of peace in their said general sessions . . . shall
be by them appointed ; which said persons . . . shall from
henceforth be called the collectors and governors of the poor, to
the intent every such poor and needy person . . . able to do
any work . . . shall not for want of work go abroad either
begging or committing pilferings or other misdemeanours . . . ;
which collectors from time to time (as cause requireth) shall, of
the same stock and store, deliver to such poor and needy person
a competent portion to be wrought into yarn or other matter . . . ,
for which they shall make payment to them which work the
same according to the desert of the work . . . ; which hemp [&c.]
or other stuff, wrought from time to time, shall be sold by the
said collectors . . . and with the money coming of the sale to
buy more stuff . . . ; and if hereafter any such person able to do
any such work shall reiuse to work ... or taking such work
shall spoil or embezzle the same ... he, she or they shall be
received into such house of correction, there to be straightly
kept, as well in diet as in work, and also punished from time
to time . . .
V. And moreover be it enacted, That within every county of
this realm one, two or more abiding houses or places con-
venient in some market-town or corporate town or other place,
by . . . order of the justices of peace in their said general
sessions . . . shall be provided, and called houses of correction,
and also stock and store and implements be provided for setting-
on work and punishing not only of those which by the collectors
and governors of the poor for causes aforesaid to the said
houses of correction shall be brought, but also of such as be
inhabiting in no parish, or be taken as rogues ... or for any
other cause ought to be abiding and kept within the same
county . . .
VI. And be it also further enacted. That the said justices of
peace, in their said general sessions, shall appoint from time to
time overseers of every such house of correction, which said
persons shall be called the censors and wardens of the houses
of correction . . . ; and shall also appoint others for the
gathering of such money as shall be taxed upon any persons
74 Elizabeth. [i576.
within their several jurisdictions towards the maintenance of
the said houses of correction, which shall be called the
collectors for the houses of correction ; and if any person
refuse to be collector and governor of the poor or censor and
warden or collector for any the houses of coirection, that
every person so refusing shall forfeit the sum of £5 . . .
18 Eliz. Cap. VII.
An Act to take away clergy from the offenders in rape and bur-
glary, and an order for the delivery of clerks convict without
purgation.
I. For the repressing of , . . rapes . . . and of felonious
burglaries, and for the avoiding of sundry perjuries and other
abuses in and about the purgation of clerks convict delivered
to the ordinaries; be it enacted . . . That if any person shall
fortune ... to commit rape or burglary, and to be found
guilty . . . , that in every such case every peison so being found
guilty . , . shall suffer pains of death and forfeit as in cases of
felony hath been accustomed by the common laws of this realm,
without any allowance of the privilege or benefit of clergy . . .
Fourth Parliament : Third Session.
Jan. 16— March 18, 1581.
23 Eliz. Cap. I.
An Act to retain the Queen^s Majesty's subjects in their due
obedience.
I. Where since the statute [13 Eliz. 2] divers evil -affected
persons have practised contrary to the meaning of the said
statute, by other means than by bulls or instruments written or
printed, to withdraw divers the Queen's Majesty's subjects
from their natural obedience to her Majesty, to obey the said
usurped authority of Eome . . . : for reformation whereof, and
to declare the true meaning of the said law, be it enacted,
1581.] Treason, &c. 75
That all persons whatsoever, which . . . shall by any ways or
means put in practice to . . . withdraw any of the Queen's
Majesty's subjects . . . from their natural obedience to her
Majesty, or to withdraw them for that intent from the religion
now by her Highness' authority established ... to the Eoniish
religion, or to move them to promise any obedience to any
pretended authority of the See of Rome, or of any other prince,
state or potentate, to be used within her dominions, or shall do
any overt act to that intent or purpose, . . , shall be adjudged
to be traitors, and being thereof lawfully convicted shall . . .
suffer and forfeit as in case of high treason : and if any person
shall ... be willingly absolved or withdrawn as aforesaid, or
willingly be reconciled, or shall promise any obedience to any
such jDretended authority [&c.], that then every such person,
their procurers and counsellors thereunto, being thereof law-
fully convicted . . . shall suffer as in cases of high treason.
II. And be it likewise enacted, That all persons that shall
wittingly be aiders or maintainers of such persons so offending
. . . , or which shall conceal any offence aforesaid, and shall not
within twenty days . . . disclose the same to some justice of
peace or other higher officer . . . shall suffer and forfeit as
offenders in misprision of treason.
III. And be it likewise enacted. That every person which
shall say or sing mass, being thereof lawfully convicted, shall
forfeit the sum of 200 marks and be committed to prison in the
next gaol, there to remain by the space of one year, and from
thenceforth till he have paid the said sura of 200 marks: and
that every person which shall willingly hear mass shall forfeit
the sum of 100 marks, and suffer imprisonment for a year.
IV. Be it also further enacted, That every person above the
age of sixteen years, which shall not repair to some church,
chapel or usual place of common prayer, . . . and being thereof
lawfully convicted, shall forfeit to the Queen's Majesty, for every
month . . . which he or she shall so forbear, £20 of lawful
English money : and that over and besides the said forfeitures,
every person so forbearing, by the space of twelve months as
aforesaid, shall for his or her obstinacy, after certificate thereof
in writing made into the King's Bench, by the ordinary of the
diocese, a justice of assize and gaol-delivery, or a justice of
7^ Elizabeth. [issi.
peace of the county where such offender shall dwell, he hound
with two sufficient sureties in the sum of ^£200 at the least to
good behaviour, and so continue bound until such time as the
persons so bound do conform themselves . . .
V. And be it further enacted, That if any person, body
politic or corporate . . . shall keep any schoolmaster, which
shall not repair to church as is aforesaid, or be allowed by the
bishop or ordinary of the diocese where such schoolmaster shall
be so kept [such person, &c.J, shall forfeit for every month so
keeping him £10; ... and such schoolmaster or teacher
presuming to teach contrary to this Act . . . shall be disabled
to be a teacher of youth, and shall suffer imprisonment without
bail for one year.
VI. And be it likewise enacted, That all offences against this
Act, or against the Acts^ of the first, fifth or thirteenth years
of her Majesty's reign, touching acknowledging of her Majesty's
supreme govei'nment in causes ecclesiastical, or other matters
touching the service of God, or coming to church, or establish-
ment of true religion in this lealm, shall be inquirable as well
before justices of peace as other justices named in the same
statutes, within one year and a day after every such offence
committed . . .
VII. Be it likewise enacted. That justices of Oyer and
Terminer and justices of assize and of gaol-delivery shall
have power to hear and determine all offences against this
statute, and justices of peace in their open quarter sessions
of peace shall have power to inquire, hear and determine all
offences against this Act, except treason and misprision of
treason . . .
VIII. And be it likewise enacted, That all forfeitures of any
sums of money limited by this Act shall be divided in three
equal parts, whereof one third part shall be to the Queen's
Majesty to her own use, one other third part to the Queen's
Majesty for relief of the poor in the parish where the offence
shall be committed . . . , and the other third part to such person
as will sue for the same . . .
* 1 Eliz. I and 2 : 5 Eliz. 1:13 Eliz. 2.
1581.] Seditious words, <6'c. 77
23 Eliz, Cap. II.
An Act against seditious words and rumours uttered against the
Queens most excellent Majesty.
I. Whereas by the laws and statutes of this realm, already
made against seditious words and rumours uttered against the
Queen's most excellent Majesty, there is not sufficient and
condign punishment provided for to suppress the malice of
such as be evil affected towards her Highness : be it therefore
enacted, That if any person . . . shall advisedly and with
a malicious intent . . . speak any false, seditious and slanderous
news, rumoui'S, sayings or tales against our said most natural
Sovereign Lady the Queen's Majesty that now is, that then
every such person, being thereof lawfully convicted or attainted
in form hereafter in this present Act expressed, shall for every
such first offence either be in some market place within the
shire, city or borough where the said words were spoken, set
openly upon the pillory ... if it shall fortune to be without
any city or town corporate, and if it shall happen to be within
any city or town corporate ... to have both his ears cut off;
or at the election of the offender pay £200 to the Queen's
Highness' use , . . and also shall suffer imprisonment by the
space of six months . , .
II. And be it further enacted. That all persons which shall
advisedly and with malicious intent against our said Sovereign
Lady report any false, seditious and slanderous news, rumours
or tales, to the slander and defamation of our said Sovereign
Lady the Queen's Majesty that now is, of the speaking or
reporting of any other, that then all persons so reporting, being
thereof convicted and attainted in form hereafter in this Act
expressed, shall for every such first offence either be in some
market place within the shire ... or town where the said words
v/ere reported set openly upon the pillory ... if it shall fortune
to be without any city or town corporate, and if it shall happen
to be within any city or town corporate ... to have one of his
ears cut off; or at the election of the offender pay 200 marks
to the Queen's Highness' use . . . , and shall also suffer imprison-
ment by the space of three months . . .
78 Elizabeth. [i58i.
III. And be it further enacted, That if any person once
lawfully convicted for any of the offences aforesaid, do after-
wards eftsoones offend in any of the offences aforesaid, that then
every such second offence to be deemed felony, and the offender
to suffer such pains of death and forfeiture as in case of felony,
Avithout any benefit of clergy or sanctuary . . .
IV. And be it further enacted, That if any person either
within this realm ... or in any other place out of the Queen's
dominions, shall advisedly and with a malicious intent against
our said Sovereign Lady, devise and write, print or set forth
any manner of book ... or writing, containing any false
seditious and slanderous matter to the defamation of the
Queen's IMajesty that now is, or to the encouraging ... of any
insurrection or rebellion within this realm . . .; or if any
person . . . either within this realm ... or in any other place
out of the Queen's dominions, shall advisedly and with a
malicious intent against our said Sovereign Lady cause any
such book ... or writing to be written, printed, published or
set forth, and the said offence not being punishable by the
Statute' made in the 25th year of the reign of King Edward
the Third concerning treason [&c.] or by any other statute
whereby any offence is made treason, that then every such
offence shall be deemed felony, and the offenders therein . . .
shall suffer such pains of death and forfeiture as in case of
felony is used, without any benefit of clergy or sanctuary . . .
V. And for that divers persons wickedly disposed and for-
getting their duty and allegiance have of late not only wished
her Majesty's death, but also by divers means practised and
sought to know how long her Highness should live, and who
should reign after her decease, and what changes and alterations
should thereby happen ; ... be it also enacted, That if any
person . . . during the life of our said Sovereign Lady the
Queen's Majesty that now is, either within her Highness'
dominions or without, shall by setting or erecting any figure or
by casting of nativities or by calculation or by any prophesying,
witchcraft, conjurations, or other like iinlawful means what-
soever, seek to know, and shall set forth by express words,
deeds or writings, how long her Majesty shall live, or who shall
1 25 E. III. (5) 2.
1581.] Seditious words, &c. 79
reign a king or queen of this realm of England after her
Highness' decease, or else shall advisedly and with a malicious
intent against her Highness, utter any manner of direct
prophecies to any such intent, or shall maliciously by any
words, writing or printing desire the death or deprivation of
our Sovereign Lady the Queen's Majesty that now is . . . that
then every such offence shall be felony, and every offender
therein, and also all his aiders [&cl, shall be judged as felons
and shall suffer pains of death and forfeit as in case of felony is
used, without any benefit of clergy or sanctuary.
VI. And be it further enacted, That the justices of King's
Bench, justices of Oyer and Terminer, justices of assizes . . .
in their sevei'al circuits, and justices of general gaol-delivery . . ,
shall have full power to inquire of and to hear and determine
all the offences aforesaid ; and that the party indicted and
arraigned of any the offences aforesaid shall have advantage
of all manner of challenges to the juiy as in trial of felony is
used ; and also that all justices of peace ... in their general
or quarter sessions shall have full power to inquire of all the
offences aforesaid and to cause the offenders therein to be
indicted without any further proceeding therein ; and that also
every justice of peace . . . shall have full power to commit any
person being vehemently suspected of any the said offences to
ward, unless he do put in sureties to make his personal appear-
ance at the next quarter sessions or gaol-delivery ; and in
default of finding such sureties, then to commit him to prison,
there to remain until he shall find sureties for his appearance
as is aforesaid.
VII. And be it further enacted. That all offences made felony
by this Act, which hereafter shall be committed out of this
realm of England, shall be from henceforth inquired of, heard
and determined before the Queen's Majesty's justices of her
bench for pleas to be holden before herself, by good and lawful
men of the same county where the same bench shall be kept, in
like manner as if the same offences had been committed within
the same county . . .
VIII. Provided that no manner of person shall be molested
or impeached for any of the offences . , . aforesaid, unless he be
thereof accused within one month next after such words so
8o Elizabeth. [i58i.
spoken or reported before some one justice of peace . . . ; and
unless such offender also be indicted within one year next after
his offence so supposed to be committed.
IX. Provided also that every such mayor ... or other head
officer of cities, boroughs and towns corporate, which have
jurisdiction ... to hold and keep sessions as justices of the
peace, shall as well arrest and commit to ward or bail . . . every
person vehemently suspected of any the offences aforesaid, as
also to inquire of all the offences aforesaid, and to proceed to
the indicting of every such offender without any further pro-
ceeding therein . . .
XIII. Provided that no person shall be hereafter indicted
or attainted for any offence as aforesaid unless the same offence
1)6 proved by . . . two sufficient witnesses at the time of his
indictment ; which said witnesses . . . shall be brought forth in
person before the party so arraigned face to face, and there shall
openly declare all they can say against the said party so indicted,
unless the said party shall willingly and without violence confess
the same.
XV. And be it likewise enacted, That this Act nor anything
therein contained shall ... be in force for any longer time than
only during the natural life of our said Sovereign Lady the
Queen's most excellent Majesty that now is ; whom God long
preserve to his glory, her Highness' honour and safety, and to
the common wealth of all her Majesty's dominions. Amen.
Fifth Parliament.
Nov. 23, 1584— March 29, 1585.
27 Eliz. Cap. I.
An Act for jprovision to he made for the surety of the Queen's
Majesty's most royal person and the continuance of the realm
in peace.
I. Forasmuch as the good felicity and comfort of the whole
estate of this realm consisteth (only next under God) iji the
surety and preservation of the Queen's most excellent Majesty ;
and for that it hath manifestly appeared that sundry wicked
1585.] Surety of the Queen's person. 8i
plota and means have of late been devised and laid, as well in
foreign parts beyond the seas as also within this realm, to the
great endangering of her Highness' most royal person, and to
the utter ruin of the whole common weal, if by God's merciful
providence the same had not been revealed : therefore for
preventing of such great perils ... be it enacted, If at any time
after the end of this present session of Pai'liament, any open
invasion or rebellion shall be made into or within any of her
Majesty's dominions, or any act attempted tending to the hurt
of her Majesty's most royal person, by or for any person that
may pretend any title to the crown of this realm after her
Majesty's decease ; or if anything shall be compassed or imagined
tending to the hurt of her Majesty's royal person by any person
or with the privity of any person that may pretend title to the
crown of this realm ; That then, by her Majesty's commission
under her Great Seal, the Lords and others of her Highness'
Privy Council and such other Lords of Parliament to be named
by her Majesty as with the said Privy Council shall make up
the number of twenty-four at the least, having with them for
their assistance in that behalf such of the judges of the Courts
of Eecord at Westminster as lier Highness shall for that purpose
assign . . ., shall by virtue of this Act have authority to examine
all the offences aforesaid and all circumstances thereof, and
thereupon to give sentence or judgment as upon good proof
the matter shall appear unto them : and that after such sentence
or judgment given and declaration thereof made and published
by her Majesty's Proclamation under the Great Seal of England,
all persons against whom such sentence or judgment shall be so
given and published shall be excluded and disabled for ever to
have or claim . . . the crown of this realm . . . : and that there-
upon all her Highness' subjects may lawfully ... by all forcible
and possible means pursue to death every such wicked person,
by whom or by whose means, assent or privity any such
invasion or rebellion shall be in form aforesaid denounced to
have been made, or such wicked act attempted, or other thing
compassed or imagined against her Majesty's person, and all
their aiders [&c.] : and if any such detestable act shall be
executed against her Highness' most royal person, whereby her
Majesty's life shall be taken away (which God of his great
G
8l Elizabeth. [i585,
mercy forbid), that then every such person by or for whom any
such act shall be executed and their issues, being any wise
assenting or privy to the same, shall be excluded and disabled
for ever to have or claim . . . tlie said crown of this realm . . . :
and that all the subjects of this realm may lawfully, by all
forcible and possible means, pursue to death every such wicked
person by whom or by whose means any such detestable fact
shall be in form hereafter expressed denounced to have been
committed, and also their issues being any way assenting or
privy to the same, and all their aiders [&c.]
II. And to the end that the intention of this law may be
effectually executed, if her Majesty's life shall be taken away
by any violent or unnatural means (Avhich God defend) : be it
further enacted, That the Lords and others which shall be of
her Majesty's Privy Council at the time of such her decease . . .
joining unto them for their better assistance five other Earls
and seven other Lords of Parliament at the least (foreseeing
that none of the said Earls, Lords or council be known to be
persons that make any title to the crown), those persons which
were Chief Justices of every Bench, Master of the Eolls and
Chief Baron of the Exchequer at the time of her Majesty's
death, or in default of the said Justices, Master of the Rolls
and Chief Baron, some other of those which were Justices of
some of the Courts of Record at Westminster at the time of her
Highness' decease to supply their places, or any twenty-four
or more of them, whei'eof eight to be Lords of Parliament not
being of the Privy Council, shall . . . examine the cause and
manner of such her Majesty's death, and wliat persons shall be
any way guilty thereof, and all circumstances concerning the
same . . . ; and thereujDon shall by open proclamation publish
the same, and without any delay, by all forcible and possible
means, prosecute to death all such as shall be found to be
oflenders therein, and all their aiders and abettors ; and for
the doing thereof and for the withstanding and suppressing of
all such power and force as shall any way be levied or stirred
in disturbance of the due execution of tliis law, shall have power
not only to raise and use such forces as shall in that behalf be
needful, but also to use all other means and things possible
and necessary for the maintenance of the same forces and
1585.] Jesuits, seminary priests, &c. 83
prosecution of the said offenders ; and if any such power and
force shall be levied or stirred in disturbance of the due exe-
cution of this law by any person that may pretend any title to
the crown of this realm . . . , that then every such person shall
be therefore excluded and disabled for ever to have or claim
. . . the crown of this realm. . . .
III. And be it further enacted, That all the subjects of all
her Majesty's dominions shall to the uttermost of their power
aid the said Council [&c.] in all things to be done according to
this law ; and that no subject of this realm shall in any wise
be impeached in body, lands or goods at any time hereafter
for anything to be done according to this law. . . .
IV. And whereas of late many of her Majesty's good and
faithful subjects have, in the name of God and with the testi-
mony of good consciences, by one uniform manner of writing
under their hands and seals and by their several oaths volun-
tarily taken, joined themselves together in one bond and
association, to withstand and revenge to the uttermost all such
malicious actions and attempts against her Majesty's most
royal person : ... be it enacted. That the same association and
every article and sentence therein contained, as well concerning
the disabling of any person that may pretend any title to come
to the crown of this realm, and also for the pursuing ... of
any person for any such wicked act or attempt as is mentioned
in the same association, shall be in all things expounded and
adjudged according to the true meaning of this Act, and not
otherwise nor against any other person.
27 Eliz. Cap. II.
An Act against Jesuits, seminary priests and such other like
disobedient persons.
I. Whereas divers persons called or professed Jesuits, seminary
priests and other priests, which have been and from time to
time are made in the parts beyond the seas, according to the
order and rites of the Romish Church, have of late years come
. . . and daily do come . . . into this realm of England and other
the Queen's Majesty's dominions, of purpose (as hath appeared
as well by sundry of their own examinations and confessions,
G a
84 Elizabeth. [i585.
as by divers other manifest means and proofs) not only to with-
draw her Highness' subjects from their due obedience to her
Majesty, but also to stir up and move sedition, rebellion and
open hostility within her Highness' dominions, to the great
endangering of the safety of her most royal person and to the
utter ruin, desolation and overthrow of the whole realm, if the
same be not the sooner by some good means foreseen and pre-
vented : for reformation whereof be it enacted . . . That all
Jesuits, seminary priests and other priests whatsoever made or
ordained ... by any authority . . . derived . . . from the See of
Rome, since the feast of the Nativity of St John Baptist in
the first year of her Highness' reign, shall within forty days
next after the end of this present session of Parliament, depart
out of this realm of England and out of all other her Highness'
realms and dominions . . .
II. And be it further enacted. That it sliall not be lawful
for any Jesuit, seminary priest or other . . . ecclesiastical person
whatsoever, being born within this realm . . . and heretofore since
the said feast of the Nativity of St John Baptist in the first year
of her Majesty's reign . . . ordained ... by any authority derived
. . . from the See of Rome ... to come into or remain in any
part of this realm . . . after the end of the same forty days,
other than in such special cases and upon such special occasions
only and for such time only as is expressed in this Act ; and
if he do, that then every such offence shall be adjudged to be
high treason, and every person so offending shall for his
offence be adjudged a traitor and shall suffer ... as in case of
high treason ; and every person which, after the end of the
same forty days, . . . shall wittingly and willingly . . . aid or
maintain any such Jesuit [&c.] as is aforesaid . . . shall also for
such offence be adjudged a felon, without benefit of clergy, and
suffer death and forfeit as in case of one attainted of felony.
III. And be it further enacted. If any of her Majesty's
subjects (not being a Jesuit ... or ecclesiastical person as is
before mentioned) now being or which hereafter shall be
brought up in any college of Jesuits or seminary ... in the
jmrts beyond the seas . . . shall not, within six months next
after proclamation in that behalf to be made in the city of
London . . . , return into this realm, and thereupon within two
1585.] Jesuits, seminary priests, &c. 85
days next after such return, before the bishop of the diocese or
two justices of peace of tlie county where he shall arrive,
submit himself to her Majesty and her laws and take the oath
set forth by Act in the first year of lier reign ; That then
every such person which shall otherwise return, come into or
be in this realm . . . shall also be adjudged a traitor, and suffer
and forfeit as in case of high treason.
IV. And be it further enacted, If any person under her
Majesty's subjection or obedience shall at any time after the
end of the said forty days, by way of exchange or by any other
means . . . convey ... or cause to be conveyed . . . over the
seas . . . into any foreign parts, or shall otherwise . . . give any
money or other relief to or for any Jesuit ... or ecclesiastical
person as is aforesaid, or for the maintenance or relief of any
college of Jesuits or seminary ... in any the jiarts beyond the
seas ... or of any person then being of or in the same colleges
or seminaries and not returned into this realm with submission
. . . That then every such person so offending for the same
offence shall incur the penalty of praemunire, mentioned in the
Statute of Praemunire . . .
V. And be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for
any j^erson under her Highness' obedience, at any time after
the said forty days, during her Majesty's life (which God long
preserve) to send his or her child or other person being under
his or her government into any the parts beyond the seas out
of her Highness' obedience, without the special licence of her
Majesty or of four of her Highness' Privy Council . . . (except
merchants for such only as they shall send over the seas, only
about their trade of merchandize, or to serve as mariners, and
not otherwise) upon pain to forfeit for every such their offence
the sum of £100.
VIII. Provided also. That this Act shall not in any wise
extend to any such Jesuit ... or ecclesiastical person as is
before mentioned, as shall at any time within the said forty
days or within three days after that he shall hereafter come
into this realm . . . submit himself to some archbishop or
bishop of this realm or to some justice of peace within the
county where he shall arrive or land, and do thereupon truly
and sincerely . . . take the said oath set forth in anno primo,
86 Elizabeth. [isss.
and by writing under his hand confess and acknowledge and
from thenceforth continue his due obedience unto her Highness'
laws, statutes and ordinances . . . provided in causes of religion.
XI. And be it also further enacted, That every person being
subject of tliis realm, which after the said forty days shall
know that any such Jesuit ... or other priest above-said shall
be within this realm . . . contrary to the true meaning of this
Act, and shall not discover the same unto some justice of
peace or other higher officer within twelve days next after his
said knowledge . . . , That every such offender shall make fine
and be imprisoned at the Queen's pleasure . . .
XIII. And be it also enacted . , . That if any person so sub-
mitting himself as aforesaid do, at any time within the space of
ten years after such submission made, come within ten miles of
such place where her Majesty shall be, without especial licence
from her Majesty in that behalf . . . such person shall take no
benefit of the said submission, but that the said submission shall
be void . . .
27 Eliz. Cap. XIII.
An A ct for the following of Hue and Cry.
I. Whereas by two ancient statutes [Stat. Wint. 13 E. I. (2) i ;
28 E. III. n], it was for the better repressing of robberies and
felonies among other things enacted that if the coimtr}^ do not
answer for the bodies of such malefactors . . . the people dwelling
in the country shall be answerable for the robberies done . . . , so
that the Avhole hundred where the robberies shall be done , . .
shall answer the robberies done . . . ; forasmuch as the said parts
of the said several statutes, being of late days more commonly
put in execution than heretofore they have been, are found by
experience to be very hard and extreme to many of the Queen's
Majesty's good subjects, because by the same statutes they do
i-emain charged Avith the penalties therein contained, notwith-
standing their inability to satisfy the same, and though they
do as much as in reason might be required in pursuing such
malefactors, whereby both large scope of negligence is given to
the inhabitants in other hundreds and counties not to prosecute
the hue and cry . . . , by reason they are not chargeable for any
/
1585.] Hue a^d Cry.
portion of the goods robbed . . . ; and also great encouragement
is likewise given unto the offenders to commit daily more
felonies and robberies, as seeing it in manner impossible for
the inhabitants of the said hundred and franchise wherein the
robbery is committed to apprehend them without the aid of the
other hundreds and counties adjoining ; and for that also the
party robbed, having remedy by the aforesaid statutes for the
recovering of his goods robbed and damages against the in-
habitants of the hundred wherein the robbery was committed, is
many times negligent in prosecuting the said malefactors : our
Sovereign Lady the Queen's Majesty . . . doth for remedy
hereof, with the consent of the Lords [&c.] . . . enact that the
inhabitants of any such hundred . . . wherein negligence . . .
after hue and cry made shall happen to be . . . shall answer and
satisfy the one moiety of all such sums of money and damages
as shall by force of the said statutes be recovered or had against
or of the said hundred in which any robbery or felony shall be
committed . . .
VII. Provided also, Tliat no person robbed shall take any
benefit by virtue of any the said former statutes, to charge
any hundred where any robbery shall be committed, except he
shall commence his suit or action within one year next after
such robbery so to be committed.
VIII. And be it further enacted, That no hue or cry or
pursuit . . . shall be taken to be a lawful hue and cry or pursuit
. . . except the same be made by horsemen and footmen . . .
IX. And be it further also enacted, That no person . . . shall
. . . take any benefit by virtue of the said statutes, except the
said person shall, with as much convenient speed as may be,
give notice . . . unto some of the inhabitants of some town,
village or hamlet near unto the place where any such robbery
shall be committed ; nor shall bring any action by virtue of any
the statutes aforesaid, except he shall first within twenty days
next before such action to be brought, be examined upon his
corporal oath . . . whether he know the parties that committed
the said robbery ; and if upon such examination it be confessed
that he know the parties . . . that then he . . . shall, before the
said action be commenced, enter into sufficient bond by re-
cognisance . . . effectually to prosecute the same persons so
88. Elizabeth. [i587.
known to have committed the said robbery . . . according to
the due course of the kiws of this reahn.
Sixth Parliament.
Oct. 29, 1586— March 23, 1587.
28 & 29 Eliz. Cap. VI.
An Act for the more speedy and due execution of certain branches
of the statute^ made in the twenty-third year of the Queens
Majesty's reign, intituled, An Act to retain the Qaeen's
Majesty's subjects in their dus obedience.
I. For avoiding of all frauds and delays heretofore practised
or hereafter to be put in ure, to the hindrance of the due and
speedy execution of the statute made ... in the twenty-third
year of the reign of our most gracious Sovereign Laely the
Queen's Majesty, intituled [as above] . . .
IV. Be it also enacted, That every such offender in not
repairing to divine service ... as hereafter shall fortune to be
thereof once convicted, shall . . . pay into the . . . Exchequer
after the rate of ^20 for every month which shall be contained
in the indictment whereupon such conviction shall be ; and
shall also for every month after such conviction, without any
other indictment or conviction, pay into the . . . Exchequer
aforesaid, at two times in the year, that is to say, in every
Easter Term and Michaelmas Term, as much as then shall
remain unpaid, after the rate of .£20 for every month after
such conviction and if default shall be made in any part of
any payment aforesaid. . . . tliat then the Queen's Majesty shall
and may, by process out of the said Exchequer, seize and enjoy
all the goods and two parts ... of all the lands, tenements
[&c.] of such offender . . ., leaving the third part only of the
same lands, tenements [&c.] for the maintenance of the same
offender, his wife, children and family . . .
^ 23 Eliz. I.
1593.] Conventicles, &c. 89
Seventh Parliament.
Feb. 4- March 29, 1589.
(No Acts printed here.)
Eighth Parliament.
Feb. 19— April 10, 1593.
35 Eliz. Cap. I.
An Act to retain the Queens subjects in obedience.
For the preventing and avoiding of such great inconveniences
and perils as might happen and grow by the wicked and dangerous
practices of seditious sectaries and disloyal persons; be it
enacted . . . That if any person above the age of sixteen years,
which shall obstinately refuse to repair to some church, chapel
or usual place of common prayer, to hear divine service
established by her Majesty's laws and statutes in that behalf
made, and shall forbear to do the same by the space of
a month next after witliout lawful cause, shall, at any time
after forty days next after the end of this session of parliament,
by printing, writing or express words or speeches ... go
about to persuade any of her Majesty's subjects ... to deny . . .
her Majesty's power and authority in causes ecclesiastical . . . ;
or to that end shall . . . persuade any other person whatsoever
to abstain from coming to church to hear divine service or to
receive the Communion according to her Majesty's laws and
statutes aforesaid, or to be present at any unlawful assemblies,
conventicles or meetings under pretence of any exercise of
religion, contrary to her Majesty's said laws and statutes ; or if
any person which shall obstinately refuse to repair to some
church [&c.], and shall forbear by the space of a month to hear
divine service, as is aforesaid, shall after the said forty days . . .
be present at any such assemblies, conventicles or meetings . . .
contrary to the laws and statutes of this realm . . . : That then
every such person . . ., being thereof lawfully convicted, shall
90 Elizabeth. [1593.
be committed to prison, there to remain without bail or main-
prize, until they shall conform and yield themselves to come to
some church [&c.] and hear divine service, according to her
Majesty's laws and statutes aforesaid, and to make such open
submission and declaration of their said conformity as hereafter
in this Act is appointed.
II. Provided always . . . That if any such person which shall
offend against this Act as is aforesaid shall not within three
months next after they shall be convicted of their said offence,
conform themselves to the obedience of the laws and statutes of
this realm, in coming to the church to hear divine service, and
in making such public confession and submission as hereafter
in this Act is appointed, being thereunto required by the bishop
of the diocese or any justice of the peace of the county where
the same j^erson shall happen to be or by the minister or curate
of the parish ; that in every such case every such offender,
being thereunto warned or required by any justice of the peace
of the same county where such offender shall then be, shall upon
his corporal oath before the justices of the peace in the open
quarter sessions of the same county or at the assizes and gaol-
delivery of the same county before the justices of the same
assizes and gaol-delivery abjure this realm of England and all
other the Queen's Majesty's dominions for ever, unless her
Majesty shall license the party to return. . . . ; and if any such
offender, which by the tenor of this Act is to be abjured, shall
refuse to make such abjuration, or after such abjuration made
shall not go to such haven and within such time as is before
appointed and from thence depart out of this realm according
to this present Act, or after such his departure shall return
into any her Majesty's dominions without her Majesty's special
licence in that behalf first obtained, that then in every such
case the person so offending shall be adjudged a felon and shall
suffer as in case of felony, without benefit of clergy.
III. And furthermore be it enacted, That if any person that
shall at any time hereafter offend against this Act shall, before
he be so warned or required to make abjuration according to
the tenor of this Act, repair to some parish church on some
Sunday or other festival day, and then and there hear divine
service, and at service-time, before the sermon or reading of
1593.] Conventicles, &c. 91
the Gospel, mal^e public and open submission and declaration
of his conformity to her Majesty's laws and statutes, as here-
after in this Act is appointed ; that then the same offender
shall thereupon be clearlj^ discharged of the penalties imposed
by this Act for any of the offences aforesaid : the same sub-
mission to be made as hereafter followeth, that is to say :
I A. B. do humbly confess and acknowledge that I have
grievously offended God in contemning her Miijesty's godly and
lawful government and authority, by absenting myself from
church and from hearing divine service, contrary to the godly
laws and statutes of this realm, and in using and frequenting
disordered and unlawful conventicles and assemblies under
pretence and colour of exercise of religion ; and I am heartily
sorry for the same, and do acknowledge and testify in my con-
science, that no other person hath or ought to have any power
or authority over her Majesty ; and I do promise and protest,
without any dissimulation or any colour or means of any dis-
pensation, that from henceforth I will from time to time obey
and perform her Majesty's laws and statutes, in repairing to
the church and hearing divine service, and do my uttermost
endeavour to maintain and defend the same :
And that every minister or curate of every parish where
such submission . . . shall hereafter be so made . . . shall pre-
sently enter the same into a book . . . and . . . shall certify the
same in writing to the bishop of the said diocese.
V. And for that every person having house and family is in
duty bound to have special regard of the good government and
ordering of the same, be it enacted, That if any person shall at
any time hereafter relieve, maintain, retain or keep in his house
or otherwise any person which shall obstinately refuse to come
to some church [&c.] to hear divine service . . . that then every
person which shall so relieve [&c.] any such person offending
as aforesaid, after notice thereof to him given by the ordinary
of the diocese or any justice of assizes of the circuit or any
justice of peace of the county or the minister, curate or church-
wardens of the parish where such person shall then be, shall
forfeit to the Queen's Majesty for every person so relieved
[&c.] ... as aforesaid, £10 for every month that he shall so
relieve [&c.] any such person so offending.
gz Elisabeth, [1593.
VI. Provided nevertheless, That this Act shall not in any wise
extend to punish or impeach any person for relieving [&c.] his
wife, father, mother, child, ward, brother or sister, or his wife's
father or mother, not having any certain place of habitation of
their own, or the husbands or wives of any of them . . .
X, Provided also, That every person that shall abjure by
force of this Act, or refuse to abjure being thereunto required
as aforesaid, shall forfeit to her Majesty all his goods and
chattels for ever ; and shall further lose all his lands [&c.]
during the life only of such offender, and no longer . . . ; but
that the heir of every such offender . . . may after the death of
every [such] offender enjoy the lands [&c.] of such offender . . . ;
and this Act to continue no longer tliau to the end of the next
session of Parliament ^.
35 Eliz. Cap. II.
An Act against Popish Recusants.
I. For the better discovering and avoiding of such traiterous
and most dangerous conspiracies and attempts, as are daily
devised and practised against our most gracious Sovereign Lady
the Queen's Majesty and the happy estate of this Common-
weal by sundry wicked and seditious persons, who terming
themselves Catliolics -and being indeed spies and intel-
ligencers not only for her Majesty's foreign enemies but also
for rebellious and traiterous subjects born within her Highness'
dominions, and hiding their most detestable and devilish pur-
poses under a fahe pretext of religion and conscience, do secretly
wander and shift from place to place within this realm, to
corrupt and seduce her Majesty's subjects, and to stir them to
sedition and rebellion : Be it enacted . . . That every person
above the age of sixteen years, born within any the Queen's
Majesty's dominions or made denizen, being a Popish recusant
and before the end of this session of Parliament convicted for
not repairing to some church, cliapel or usual place of common
jDrayer to hear divine service there . . . and having any certain
jilace of abode within this realm, shall within forty days next
after the end of this session of Parliament (if they be within
this realm, and not restrained [by various specified hindrances]
^ Continued by 39 Eliz. 18; 43 Eliz. 9; i Jac. I. 25 ; 21 Jac. I. 28.
1598.] Popish Recusants. 93
. . .) repair to their place of dwelling where they usually hereto-
fore made their common abode, and shall not any time after
remove above five miles from thence . . . , upon pain that every
person that shall offend against the tenor of this Act in any-
thing before-mentioned shall forfeit all his goods and chattels,
and shall also forfeit to the Queen's j\Iajesty all [his] lands
[&c.] during the life of the same offender.
II. And be it also enacted, That every person above the age
of sixteen years, born within any her Majesty's dominions, not
having any certain place of abode within this realm, and being
a Popish recusant, not usually repairing to some church [&c.],
shall within forty days next after the end of this session of
Parliament if they be then within the realm and not restrained
[as above] repair to the place where such person was born, or
where the father or mother of such person shall then be dwel-
ling, and shall not at any time after remove above five miles
from thence, upon pain [as above].
IV. [Recusants to notify their place of abode.]
V. [Recusants not having lands or goods to a certain amount,
transgressing this Act, to abjure the realm.]
VI. And be it further enacted. That if any person which
shall be suspected to be a Jesuit, seminary or massing priest,
being examined by any person having lawful authority in that
behalf to examine such person which shall be so suspected,
shall refuse to answer directly and truly whether he be a
Jesuit or [&c.] as is aforesaid, every such person so refusing to
answer shall ... be committed to prison by such as shall
examine him . . . and thereupon shall remain in prison without
bail or mainprize, until he shall make direct and true answer
to the said questions whereupon he shall be so examined . . .
Ninth Parliament.
Oct. 24, 1597— Feb. 9, 1598.
39 & 40 Eliz. Cap. I.
An Act against the decaying of towns and houses of husbandry.
I. Where a good part of the strength of this realm consisteth
in the number of good and able subjects, and whereas the
94 Elizabeth. [i598.
decaj-s of towns and habitations have been by the ancient laws
of this realm esteemed an high offence, and where of late years
more than in times past there have sundry towns, parishes and
houses of husbandry been destroyed and become desolate, by
means whereof a great number of poor people are become
wanderers, idle and loose, which is the cause of infinite in-
conveniences : be it therefore enacted . . .
II. ... That every house that now hath or heretofore hath
had twenty acres of arable land, meadow and pasture, or more
thereunto belonging, and so occupied ... by the space of three
years together, at any time since the beginning of the Queen's
Majesty's reign that now is, and which is not or hath not been
the castle or dwelling-house of any nobleman or gentleman,
nor the chief mansion house of any manor, is and shall be
adjudged a house of husbandry for ever . . .
III. And be it also enacted, if any person or persons, bodies
politic or corporate at any time since the beginning of her said
Majesty's reign, or before seven years now last past, have . . .
suffered to be decayed or wasted any such houses of husbandry,
that in every such case the offender shall build or repair . . .
upon some convenient part of the sites . . . the one half in
number of such houses so decayed or wasted, if the offender
now hath or . . . shall have in his use or occupation so much of
the lands Avhich belonged to the same houses as will suffice to
lay thereof forty acres of arable land, meadow and pasture to
every of the same houses . . . , and shall then also put to every
of the same houses forty acres of the same lands at the
least . . . : and if any of the same wastings or decayings have
happened within seven years, the offenders having ... in their
own use or occupation so much of the lands which belonged to the
same houses ... as can supply every of the same houses, which
had before belonging unto it under forty acres, with twenty acres
of arable [&c.], and every such of the same houses which before
had forty acres or above belonging unto it, with forty acres of
arable [&c.], shall build or repair upon some convenient jDart
of the sites . . . the whole number of the houses so decayed . . .
XI. And be it further enacted. That the justices of assizes
shall have full power to inquire of, hear and determine all the
said defaults and offences . . .
1598.] Husbandry and Tillage. 95
XII. . . . This Act to endure but to the eud of the next
session of Parliament \
39 & 40 Eliz. Cap. II.
An Act for the maintenance of husbandry and tillage.
I. Whereas the strength and flourishing estate of this kingdom
... is greatly upheld and advanced by the maintenance of the
plough and tillage, being the occasion of the increase and
multiplying of people both for service in the wars and in times
of peace, being also a principal mean that people are set on
work and thereby withdrawn from idleness, drunkenness, un-
lawful games and all othei: lewd practices . . . ; and whereas by
the same means . . . the greater part of the subjects are preserved
from extreme poverty . . . and the wealth of the realm is kept
dispersed and distributed in many hands, where it is more
ready to answer all necessary charges, for the service of the
realm ; and whereas also the said husbandry and tillage is
a cause that the realm doth more stand upon itself, without
depending upon foreign countries either for bringing in of corn
in time of scarcity, or for vent and utterance of our own com-
modities being in over great abundance ; and whereas from the
twenty-seventh year of King Henry the Eighth until the thirty-
fifth year of her Majesty's most happy reign there was always
in force some law which did ordain a conversion and con-
tinuance of a certain quantity and proportion of land in tillage
not to be altered ; and that in the last Parliament . . . , partly
by reason of the great plenty and cheapness of gi-ain . . . and
partly by reason of the imperfection and obscurity of the law
made in that case, the same was discontinued ; since which time
there have grown many more depopulations by turning tillage
into pasture, than at any time for the like number of years
heretofore : Be it enacted . . . That whereas any lands since the
seventeenth of November in the first year of her Majesty's reign
have been converted to sheep-pastures or to the fatting or
grazing of cattle, the same lands having been tillable lands . . .
by the space of twelve years together at the least next before
such conversion . . . , all such lands shall before the first day
^ Continued by 43 Eliz. 9 ; i Jac. I. 25.
g6 Elisabeth. [i598.
of May, 1599, be restored to tillage . . . and so shall be con-
tinued for ever.
II. And be it further enacted, That all Lmds which now are
used in tillage, having ])een tillable lands ... by the space of
twelve years together at the least . . . , shall not be converted to
any sheep-pasture or to the grazing or fatting of cattle . . . but
shall . . . continue to be used in tillage for corn and grain and
not for woad.
IX. And be it further enacted, That the justices of assize
or justices of the peace in every county at the assizes or quarter
or genei'al sessions shall have full power to inquire, hear and
determine all the defaults and offences committed contrary to
this Act . . .
XV. This Act to endure to the end of the next session of
Parliament ^
39 & 40 Eliz. Cap. III.
An Act for the relief of the Poor.
I. Be it enacted, That the churchwardens of every parish and
four substantial householders there being subsidy men, or (for
want of subsidy men) four other substiintial householders of the
said parish, who shall be nominated yearly in Easter week under
the hand and seal of two or more justices of the peace in the
same county, whereof one to be of the qiiorum, dwelling in or
near the same parish, shall be called overseers of the poor of
the same parish ; and they , . . shall take order from time to
time with the consent of two or more such justices of peace for
setting to work of the children of all such \sic\ whose parents
shall not by the said persons be thought able to keep and
maintain their children, and also all such persons, married or
unmarried, as, having no means to maintain them, use no
ordinary and daily trade of life to get their living by ; and also
to raise ... by taxation of every inhabitant and every occupier
of lands in the said parish ... a convenient stock of flax, hemp,
wool, thread, iron and other stuff to set the poor on work,
and also competent sums of money for the necessary relief
of the lame, impotent, old, blind and such other among them
being poor and not able to work, and also for the putting out
^ Continued by 43 Eliz. 9 ; i Jac. I. 25.
1598.] Relief of the Poor, &c. 97
of such children to he apprentices . . . and to do all other things
. . . concerning the premises as to them shall seem convenient :
which said churchwardens and overseers so to he nominated . . .
shall meet together at the least once every month in the church
of the said parish, upon the Sunday in the afternoon after
divine service, there to consider of some good course to he
taken ... in the premises ; and shall within four days after
the end of their year, and after other overseers nominated as
aforesaid, make and yield up to such two justices of peace
a true and perfect account of all sums of money by them
received, or rated and cessed and not received, and also of all
such stock . . . and of all other things concerning their said
oflRce, and such sums of money as shall be in their hands shall
pay and deliver over to the said churchwardens and overseers
newly nominated and appointed as aforesaid ; upon pain that
every one of them absenting themselves without lawful cause
as aforesaid from such monthly meeting or being negligent in
their office ... to forfeit for every such default 20s.
II. And be it also enacted, That if the said justices of peace
do perceive that the inhabitants of any parish are not able to
levy among themselves sufficient sums of money for the purposes
aforesaid, that then the said justices shall tax . . . any other of
other parishes . . . within the hundred where the said parish is,
to pay such sums of money ... as the said justices shall think
fit, according to the intent of this law ; and if the said hundred
shall not be thought to the said justices able to relieve the said
several parishes . . . then the justices of peace at their general
quarter sessions shall rate and assess as aforesaid any other
of other parishes . . . within the said county for the purposes
aforesaid as in their discretion shall seem fit.
III. And that it shall be lawful for the said churchwardens
and overseers or any of them by warrant from any such two
justices of peace to levy as well the said sums of money of
every one that shall refuse to contribute ... by distress and sale
of the offender's goods, as the sums of money or stock which
shall be behind upon any account to be made as aforesaid . . . ;
and in defect of such distress it shall be lawful for any such
two justices of the peace to commit him to prison, there to
remain . . . till payment of the said sum or stock ; and the said
H
9 8 Elizabeth. [i598.
justices of peace or any one of them to send to the house of
correction such as shall not employ themselves to work being
appointed thereunto as aforesaid ; and also any two such
justices of peace to commit to prison every one of the said
churchwardens and overseers which shall refuse to account,
there to remain . . . till he have made a time account and paid
so much as upon the said account shall be remaining in his
hands.
IV. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for
the said churchwardens and overseers by the assent of any two
justices of the j)eace to bind any such children as aforesaid to
be apprentices when they shall see convenient, till such man-
child shall come to the age of 24 years and such Avoman-child
to the age of 21 years . . .
V. And to the intent that necessary places of habitation may
more conveniently be provided for such poor impotent people,
... it shall be lawful for the said churchwardens and overseers
by the leave of the lord or lords of the manor whereof any
waste or common within their parish is parcel ... to erect in
fit and convenient places of habitittion in such waste or
common, at the general charges of the parish or otherwise of
the hundred or county as aforesaid . . . , convenient houses of
dwelling for the said impotent poor . . .
VI. Provided that if any persons shall find themselves
grieved with any cess or tax or other act done by the said
churchwardens and other persons or by the said justices of
peace, that then it shall be lawful for the justices of peace
at their general quarter sessions to take such order therein as
to them shall be thought convenient . . .
VII. And be it further enacted, That the jjarents or children
of every poor . . . and impotent person . . . , being of sufficient
ability, shall at their own charges relieve and maintain every
such poor person in that manner and according to that rate
as by the justices of peace . . . shall be assessed; upon pain that
every one of them to forfeit 20s. for every month which they
shall fail therein.
VIII. [Mayors &c. to execute this Act in corporations.]
IX. [Provision where a parish extends into two counties, &c.]
X. And be it further enacted, That ... no person shall go
1598.] Relief of the Poor, &c. 99
wandering abroad and beg in any place whatsoever, by licence
or without, upon pain to be taken and punished as a rogue :
provided always that this present Act shall not extend to any
poor people which shall ask relief of victuals only in the same
parish where such poor people do dwell, so the same be . . .
according to such order as shall be made by the churchwardens
and overseers of the poor of the same parish . . .
XI. And be it further enacted, That all penalties and for-
feitures before mentioned in this Act shall be employed to the
use of the poor of the saijie parish, and towards a stock and habi-
tation for them and other necessary uses and relief . . .
XII. And forasmuch as all begging is forbidden by this
present Act . . . the justices of peace . . . shall rate every parish
to such a weekly sum of money as they shall think convenient, so
as no parish be rated above the sum of 60?. nor under the sum of \d.
weekly, and so as the total sum of such taxation of the parishes
in every county amount not above the rate of 2d. for every
parish in the said county ; which sums so taxed shall be yearly
assessed by the agreement of the parishioners within themselves,
or in default thereof by the churchwardens and constables . . . ,
or in default of their agreement by the order of !<uch justice or
justices of peace as shall dwell in the same parish ... or in the
parts next adjoining : and if any person shall refuse or neglect
to pay any such portion of money so taxed, it shall be lawful
for the said churchwardens and constables, or in their defaults
for the justices of the peace, to levy the same by distress and
sale of the goods of the party so refusing or neglecting . . . ; and
in default of such distress it shall be lawful to any justice of
that limit to commit such persons to prison . , . till he have
paid the same.
XIII. And be it also enacted. That the said justices of the
peace at their general quarter sessions . . . shall set down what
competent sum of money shall be sent quarterly out of every
county or place corporate for the relief of the poor prisoners of
the King's Bench and Marshalsea, and also of such hospitals
and almshouses as shall be in the said county ... so as there be
sent out of every county yearly 20s. at the least to the prisoners
of the King's Bench and Marshalsea ; which sums, rateably to
be assessed upon every parish, the churchwardens of every parish
H -z
100 Elizabeth. [i598.
shall truly collect and pay over to the high constable in whose
division such parish shall be situate . . . quarterly . . . ; and
every such constable . . . shall pay over the same to two such
justices of the peace, or to one of them, as shall be by the more
part of the justices of peace of the county elected to be
treasurers . . . ; which treasurers . • . shall continue but for the
space of one whole year . . . ; which said treasurers . . . shall
pay over the same to the Lord Chief Justice of England and
Knight Marshal for the time being, equally to be divided to the
use aforesaid . . .
XIV. And be it further enacted, That all the surplusage of
money which shall be remaining in the said stock of any county
shall by . . . the justices of peace in their quarter sessions be
ordered and bestowed for the relief of the poor hospitals of that
county, and of those that shall sustain losses by fire ... or other
casualties, and to such other charitable purposes ... as to the
said justices of peace shall seem convenient.
XV. [Fine to be levied on any one refusing to act as treasurer
or to obey orders.]
XVI. Provided . . . that every soldier being discharged of
his service . . . and every seafaring man landing from sea, not
having wherewith to relieve himself in his travel homewards,
having a testimonial under the hand of some one justice of
peace of the place where he was landed or was discharged . . .
may, without incurring the penalty of this Act, . . . ask and
receive such relief as shall be necessary for his passage . . .
XVII. Provided that this Act shall endure no longer than
to the end of the next session of Parliament \
39 & 40 Eliz. Cap. IV.
An Act for 'punishment of rogues, vagabonds and sturdy
beggars.
I. For the suppressing of rogues, vagabonds and sturdy
beggars, be it enacted, That ... all statutes heretofore made for
the punishment of rogues, vagabonds or sturdy beggars, or for
the erection or maintenance of houses of correction, shall, for so
much as concerneth the same, be utterly repealed ; and that . . .
from time to time it shall be lawful for the justices of peace of
* This Act is amended and confirmed by 43 & 44 Eliz. 2.
1598.] Rogues and Vagabonds. loi
any county or city in this realm or dominion of Wales assembled
at any quarter sessions ... to set down order to erect one or
more houses of correction, within their several counties or
cities, for the doing whereof and for the providing of stocks of
money and all other things necessary for the same, and for
raising and governing of the same, and for correction and
punishment of offenders thither to be committed, such orders as
the same justices shall from time to time make in any their
said quarter sessions in that behalf shall be of force and be
duly put in execution.
II. Be it further enacted, That all persons calling themselves
scholars going about begging, all seafaring men pretending
losses [&c. '] shall be deemed rogues, vagabonds and sturdy
beggars, and shall sustain such punishment as by this Act is in
that behalf appointed.
III. And be it enacted, That every person which is by this
present Act declared to be a rogue, vagabond or sturdy beggar,
which shall be . . . taken begging, vagrant or misordering them-
selves . . . shall upon their apprehension ... be stripped naked
from the middle upwards and shall be openly whipped until
his or her body be bloody, and shall be forthwith sent from
parish to parish . . . the next straight way to the parish where
he was born, if the same may be known . . . , and if the same be
not known, then to the parish where he last dwelt . . . one
whole year, there to put himself to labour as a true subject
ought to do ; or not being known where he was born or last
dwelt, then to the parish through which he last passed without
punishment; . . . and the party so whipped and not known
where he was born or last dwelt by the sj^ace of a year, shall
by the officers of the said village where he so last passed through
without punishment be conveyed to the house of correction . . .
or to the common gaol of that county or place, there to remain
and be employed in work until he shall be placed in some
service, and so to continue by the space of one whole year, or
not being able of body, ... to remain in some almshouse in the
same county or place.
IV. Provided, That if any of the said rogues shall appear to
be dangerous ... or such as will not be reformed ... it shall be
' Nearly as in 14 Eliz. 5, § 5.
loa Elizabeth. [i598.
lawful to the said justices ... or any two of them ... to commit
that rogue to the house of correction or to the gaol of that county,
there to remain until their next quarter sessions . . . ; and then
such of the same rogues so committed, as by the justices of the
peace . . . shall be thought fit not to be delivered, shall ... be
banished out of this realm . . . and at the charge of that county
shall be conveyed unto such parts beyond the seas as shall be at
any time hereafter for that purpose assigned by the privy
council ... or by any six or more of them, whereof the Lord
Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal or the Lord
Treasurer to be one, or be judged perpetually to the galleys of
this realm, as by the same justices shall be thought fit ; and if
any such rogue so banished as aforesaid shall return again into
any part of this realm or dominion of Wales without lawful
licence . . . such offence shall be felony, and the party offending
therein suffer death as in case of felony . . .
XII. And be it also enacted, That any two or more justices
of the peace . . . , whereof one to be of the quorum, shall have
full power to hear and determine all causes that shall come in
question by reason of this Act.
XIV. Provided, That every seafaring man suffering shipwreck,
not having wherewith to relieve himself in his travels home-
wards, but having a testimonial under the hand of some one
justice of the peace of the place where he landed, . . . may with-
out incurring the penalty of this Act . . . ask to receive such
i-elief as shall be necessary for his passage.
XVI. Be it further enacted, That this present Act shall be
proclaimed in the next quarter sessions in every county, and in
such other market-towns or places as by the justices of the
peace . . . shall be appointed. This Act to endure to the end of
the first session of the next Parliament ^
39 & 40 Eliz. Cap. V.
An Act for erecting of hospitals or abiding and v;orking houses
for the iioor.
I. Whereas at the last session of parliament provision was
made ^ as well as for maimed soldiers, by collection in every
^ Continued by 43 Eliz. 9 ; amended by i Jac. I. 7 ; and continued by
1 Jac. I. 25 ; 21 Jac. I. 28. ^ 35 Eliz. 4.
1601.] IVorkhouseSj &c. 103
parish, as for other poor, that it should be kxwful for every
person, during twenty years next after the said parhament . . . ,
to give and bequeath in fee-simple, as well to the use of the
poor as for the provision or maintenance of any house of correc-
tion or abiding-houses, or of any stocks or stores, all or any
part of his lands [&c.] ; her most excellent Majesty understand-
ing that the said good law hath not taken such effect as was
intended, by reason that no jjerson can erect or incorporate any
hosj)ital [&c.] but her Majesty or by her Highness' special
licence . . . , is of her princely care . . . for the relief of maimed
soldiers, mariners and other poor and impotent people pleased
that it be enacted . . . and be it enacted. That all persons
seised of an estate in fee-simple, their heirs, executors or
assigns . . . shall have full jiower, ... at any time during the
space of twenty years next ensuing, by deed enrolled in the
High Court of Chancery, to found and establish one or more
hospitals, maisons de dieu, abiding-places or houses of cor-
rection ... to have continuance for ever, and from time to time
to place thei'ein such head and members and such number of
poor as to him [&c.] shall seem convenient . . .
V. Provided, That no such hospital [&c.] shall be erected,
founded or incorporated by force of this Act, unless upon the
foundation or erection thereof the same be endowed for ever
with lands, tenements or hereditaments of the clear yearly value
of£io\
Tenth Parliament.
Oct. 27-Dec. 19, 1601.
43 & 44 Eliz. Cap. II.
An Act for the relief' of the 2>oor.
I. Be it enacted . . . That the churchwardens of every parish,
and four, three, or two substantial householders there, as shall
be thought meet, having respect to the proportion and great-
ness of the same parish or parishes, to be nominated yearly in
Easter week or within one month after Easter, under the hand
' Revived and made perpetual by 21 Jac. 1. 1.
104 Elizabeth. [leoi,
and seal of two or more justices of the peace in the same
county, whereof one to be of the quorum, dwelling in or near
the same parish or division where the same parish shall lie,
shall he called Overseers of the Poor of the same parish ; aud
they . . . shall take order [&c. as in Stat. 39 and 40 Eliz. 4
§ I , down to the words ' to get their living by,' proceeding
thus] and also to raii^e ... by taxation of every inhabitant,
parson, vicar and other, and of every occupier of lands,
houses, tithes impropriate or propriations of tithes, coal mines
or saleable underwood in the said j)arish ... a convenient
stock [&c. as in the above-mentioned Act, § i].
II. [As in the above Act, §§ 2 and 3.]
III. [As in the above Act, § 4, adding, after the words
' 21 years,' the words ' or the time of her marriage.'
IV. [As in the above Act, § 5, down to the words ' impo-
tent poor,' with the following addition] 'which cottages and places
for inmates shall not at any time after be used for any other
habitation, but only for impotent and poor of the same parish . . .'
V. [As in the above Act, § 6.]
VI. [As in the above Act, § 7, with the substitution of ' the
father and grandfather, and the mother and grandmother ' for
' j)arents.']
VII. [As in the above Act, § 8, with additional permission
to every Alderman of the City of London to exei'cise within his
ward the powers conferred by this Act on one or two justices
of the peace.]
VIII. [As in the above Act, § 9, with some additional
details.]
IX. [Penalty of £5 on justices, &c., failing to nominate over-
seers ^]
X. [As in the above Act, § 11.]
XI. [As in the above Act, § 12, omitting the words 'foras-
much as all begging is forbidden by this present Act.']
XII. [As in the above Act, § 13, except that the treasurers
may be either justices of the peace or persons rated for subsidy
at £ 5 lands or £ i o goods.]
XIII. [As in the above Act, § 14.]
' This section is not in the Act of 1593 : §§ 10 & 16 of the Act of 1593
are omitted in this Act.
1601.] Government of the North Parts. 1 05
XIV. [As in the above Act, § 15, adding that the fine is to
be £3 at least.]
XIX. Provided that this Act shall endure no longer than to
the end of the next session of Parliament ^
43 & 44 Eliz. Cap. XIII.
An Act for the more peaceable government of the parts ofCumher-
land, Northumberland, Westmoreland, and the Bis7i02)ric of
Durham.
I. Forasmuch as now of late years very many of her Majesty's
subjects, dwelling within the counties of Cumberland, North-
umberland, Westmoreland and the Bishopric of Durham,
have been . . . carried out of the same counties or to some
other places within some of the said counties as prisoners, and
kept barbarously and cruelly, until they have been redeemed by
great ransoms ; and where now of late time there have been
many incursions, raids, robberies, and burning and spoiling of
towns, villages and houses within the said counties, that divers
. . . Avithin the said counties . . . have been enforced to pay a
certain rate of money, corn, cattle or other consideration,
commonly there called blackmail, unto divers inhabiting near
the borders, being men of name and allied with divers in those
parts who are commonly known to be great robbers, ... to the
end thereby to be by them protected . . .; by reason whereof
many of the inhabitants . . . are much impoverished, and theft
and robbery much increased, , . . and the service of those
borders much weakened and decayed, and divers towns thei^e-
abouts much dispeopled and laid waste, and her Majesty's own
revenue greatly diminished ; ... be it enacted, That whosoever
shall at any time hereafter, without good and lawful warrant
take any of her Majesty's subjects . . . or . . . imprison them
. . . against their wills, to ransom them or to make a prey or
spoil of their person or goods, upon deadly feud or otherwise,
or whosoever shall be privy . . . unto any such taking . . . , or
whosoever shall take . . . or . . . give any such money, corn,
cattle or other consideration called blackmail . . ., or shall
wilfully or of malice burn . . . any barn or stack of corn or
grain . , . within any the said counties . . . , and shall be . . .
' This Act is continued by I Jac. I. 25 ; 21 Jac. I. 28.
io6 Elizabeth. [leoi.
indicted and lawfully convicted . . . before the justices of assizes
[&c.] or justices of peace within any of the said counties at
some of their general sessions . . . , shall be taken to be as felons
and shall suffer pains of death, without any benefit of clergy,
sanctuary or abjuration, and shall forfeit as in case of felony.. .
43 & 44 Eliz. Cap. XVIII.
An Act for the grant of four entire subsidies and eight fifteens
and tenths granted by the temporality.
I. Most excellent and most gracious Sovereign, . . . forasmuch
as in this time of our advised and mature deliberation we have
sufficiently perceived how great and inestimable charges j'our
Majesty hath sustained many years, in seeking (by way of pre-
vention) to hinder all such foreign attempts as . . . might long
since have proved perilous to the whole estate of this Common-
wealth ; and where it is apparent to all the world that if your
Majesty had not exhausted the greatest portion of your private
treasures, besides all other means derived from our dutiful
affections, as well in making timely provision of all things
necessaiy for your navy and army royal, as in maintaining and
using the same at times convenient, that we should long before
this day have been exposed to the danger of many sudden and
dangerous attempts of our enemies and failed in all those happy
successes which have accompanied your royal actions taken in
hand for the defence of this estate . . . ; forasmuch as we do
seriously consider that your ^lajesty and we your faithful and
obedient subjects are but one body politic, and that your High-
ness is the head and we the members, and that no good or
felicity, peril or adversity can come to the one but the other
shall partake thereof . . . ; being fully resolved to leave both
lands, goods and whatsoever else that is dearest unto us, yea,
and this mortal life, rather than we would suffer your royal
estate to be in any part diminished, or the imperial crown of this
realm deprived of any honour, title, right or interest thereunto
belonging . . . , we have thought meet not only to make it one
of our first works to consult of that matter, which in other
sessions of parliament hath usually succeeded many other acts
and consultations, but so to enlarge and improve the measure
1563.] Subsidy: Queen's Marriage, &c. 107
of this oblation which we shall offer to your rojal person, as it
may give your Majesty an assured testimony of our internal
zeals and duties ... in a manner far exceeding any former
precedent, because no age either liath or can produce the like
precedent of so much happiness under any prince's reign, nor of
so continual gracious care for our preservation as your Majesty
hath showed in all your actions, having never stuck to hazard
or rather neglect for our preservation any part of those worldly
blessings wherewith Almighty God hath so plentifully endowed
you in this time of your most happy government : and therefore
we do with all duty and humble affections that heart can con-
ceive or tongue can utter present to your sacred Majesty four
entire subsidies and eight fifteens and tenths toward your
Highness' great charges for our defence . . .
IL— PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.
1. General.
1 . Petition of the House of Commons for the Queen s marriage
and the succession, 28 January, 1563.
. . . We most humble subjects, knowing the preservation of
ourselves, and all our posterity, to depend upon the safety of
your Majesty's most royal person, have most carefully and
diligently considered, how the want of heirs of your body and
certain limitation of succession after you is most perilous to
your Highness, whom God long preserve amongst us. We have
been admonished of the great malice of your foreign enemies,
which even in your lifetime have sought to transfer the dignity
and right of j'our crown to a stranger ; we have noted their
daily most dangerous practices against your life and reign ; we
have heard of some subjects of this land, most unnaturally
confederated with your enemies, to attempt the destruction of
your Majesty, and us all that live by you ; we fear a faction of
heretics in your realm, contentious and malicious Papists,
lest they most unnaturally against their country, most madly
against their own safety, and most treacherously against your
io8 Elizabeth. [i563.
Highness, not only hope for the woful diiyof j'our death, but
also lay in wait to advance some title, under which they may
revive their late unspeakable cruelty, to the destruction of
goods, possessions and bodies, and thraldom of the souls and
consciences of your faithful and Christian subjects; we see
nothing to withstand their desire, but your only life ; their
unkindness and cruelty we have tasted ; we fear much to what
attempt the hope of such oi)portunity (nothing withstanding
them but your life) will move them ; we find how necessary it
is for your preservation, that there be more bounds set between
your Majesty's life and their desire ; we see, on the other side,
how there can be no such danger to your Majesty by ambition
of any apparent heir established by your benefit and advance-
ment, for want of issue of your Majesty's royal body, as you are
now subject unto, by reason of their desire and hope ; we know
not how many pretend titles and trust to succeed you, whose
secret desire we so much more fear, because neither their
number, force, nor likelihood of disposition is known unto us ;
and so we can the less beware of them for your preservation . . .
So, as your Majesty of your singular care for us, and our
posterity, hath at this time assembled us, for establishing this
great and only stay of our safeties : I ', in the name of all your
most loving, natural and obedient subjects, do present unto you
our most lowly suit and petition, That ... it may please your
most excellent Majesty for our sakes, for our presei-vation and
comforts and at our most humble suit, to take to yourself some
honourable husband, whom it shall please you to join unto in
marriage ; whom, whatsoever he be that your Majesty shall
choose, we protest and promise, with all humility and reverence,
to honour, love and serve, as to our most bounded duty shall
appertain . . . And where by the statute ^ which your most noble
father assented unto ... for the limitation of the succession of
the crown of this realm, your Majesty is the last expressly named
within the body of the said Act ; and for that your subjects
cannot judge, nor do know anything of the form or validity of
any further limitations, left incertain for want of heirs of your
body, whereby some great dangerous doubt remaineth in their
hearts, to their great grief, peril and unquietness : it may also
1 The Speaker (Williams^. 2 3^ h. VIII. i.
1586.] Mary, Queen of Scots. 109
please your Majesty by procliimation of certainty already pro-
vided, if any such be, or else by limitations of certainty, if none
be, to provide a most gracious remedy in this great necessity
. . . And your subjects, on their behalfs, for your Majesty's
further assurance, whereupon their own preservation wholly
dependeth, shall employ their whole endeavours and wits and
power, to renew, devise and establish the most strong and
beneficial acts and laws of preservation and surety of your
Majesty and of your issue, in the imperial crown of this realm ;
and the most penal, sharp and terrible statutes, to all that
shall but once practise and attempt or conceive against your
eafety . . .
The Queens answer to the above petitioji, 10 Ajyril, 1563.
. . . Since there can be no duer debt than princes' words,
which I would observe, therefore I answer to the same. Thus
it is ; the two petitions which you made unto me do contain
two tilings, my Marriage, and Succession after me. For the
first, if I had let slip too much time, or if my strength had been
decayed, you might the better have spoke therein ; or if any
think I never meant to try that life, they be deceived ; but if
I may hereafter bend my mind thereunto, the rather for ful-
filling your request, I shall be therewith very well content.
For the second, the greatness thereof maketh me to say and
pray, that I may linger here in this vale of misery for your
comfort, wherein I have witness of my study and travail for
your surety : and I cannot, with ' nunc diraittis,' end my life,
without I see some foundation of your surety after my grave-
stone. D' Ewes' Journals, pp. 75-Si.
2. Petition of Parliament touching Mary, Queen of Scots,
22 November, 1586.
May it please your most excellent Majesty, We, your
humble, loving and faithful subjects, the Lords and Commons
in this present parliament assembled, having of long time, to
our intolerable grief, seen by how manifold, most dangerous
and execrable practices, Mary . . . commonly called the Queen
of Scots, hath compassed the destruction of your Majesty's
sacred and most royal person . . . , and thereby not only to
1 10 Elizabeth. [isse.
bereave us of the sincere ai)d true religion of Almighty God,
bringing us and this noble crown back again into the thraldom
of the Romish ij'^ranny, but also utterly to ruinate and over-
throw the happy state and commonweal of this realm : and
seeing also what insolent boldness is grown in the heart
of the same Queen, through your Majesty's former exceeding
favours towards her; and thereupon weighing, with heavy and
sorrowful hearts, in what continual peril of suchlike desperate
conspii'acies and practices your Majesty's most royal and sacred
person and life (more dear unto us than our own) is and shall
be still, without any possible means to prevent it, so long as
the said Scottish Queen shall be suffered to continue, and shall
not receive that due punishment which, by justice and the laws
of this your realm, she hath so often and so manj' ways, for
her most wicked and detestable offences, deserved : therefore . . .
We do most humbly beseech your most excellent Majesty that,
as well in respect of the continuance of the true religion
now professed amongst us and of the safety of your most royal
person and estate, as in regard of the jireservation and defence
of us your most loving, dutiful and faithful subjects and the
whole commonweal of this realm, it may please your Highness
to take speedy order, that declaration of the same sentence and
judgment be made and published by proclamation, and that
thereupon direction be given for further proceedings against
the said Scottish Queen, according to the effect and true mean-
ing of the said statute ' : because, upon advised and great con-
sultation, we cannot find that there is any possible means to
provide for your Majesty's safety, but by the just and speedy
execution of the said Queen : . . . and if the same be not
put in present execution, we your most loving and dutiful
subjects, shall thei'eby (so far as man's reason can reach) be
brought into utter despair of the continuance amongst us of
the true religion of Almighty God, and of your Majesty's life,
and the safety of all your faithful subjects, and the good estate
of this most flourisliing commonweal.
' Stat. 27 Eliz. I. § I.
1601.] Monopolies. iii
l^he Queen's answer, 24 November, 1586.
That her Highness, moved with some commiseration for the
Scottish Queen, in respect of her former dignity and great
fortunes in her younger years, her nearness of kindred to her
Majesty and also of her sex, could be well pleased to forbear the
taking of her blood, if, by any other means to be devised by her
Highness' Great Council of this realm, the safety of her
Majesty's person and government might be preserved, without
danger of ruin and destruction, and else not ; therein leaving
them all nevertheless to their own free liberty and disj)ositions
of proceeding otherwise at their choice.
To which the Houses made rejyly.
That having often conferred and debated on that question,
according to her Highness' commandment, they could find no
other way than was set down in their petition.
TJie Queen's second answer.
If I should say unto you that I mean not to grant your
petition, by my faith I should say unto you more than perhaps
I mean. And if I should say unto you I mean to grant your
petition, I should then tell you more than is fit for you to
know. And thus 1 must deliver you an answer answerless.
D'Ewes Journals, pp. 380-402.
3. Debate in Parliament on a Bill against Monopolies, and the
Queens message touchitig the same, November, 1601.
[Mr. Laurence Hide having on 20 November, 1601, brought in
a Bill entitled 'An Act for the explanation of the Common
Law in certain cases of Letters Patents,']
3fr. Francis Bacon said : . . . I confess the bill, as it is, is in
few words, but yet ponderous and weighty. For the pi'e-
rogative I'oyal of the prince, for my own part I ever allowed
of it, and it is such as I hope shall never be discussed. The
Queen, as she is our sovereign, hath both an enlarging and
restraining liberty of her prerogative ; that is, she hath power
by her patents to set at liberty things restrained by statute
law or otherwise ; and, by her prerogative she may restrain
112 Elizabeth. [leoi.
things that are at liberty. For the fiist, she may grant non
obstantes contrary to the penal laws, which truly, in my own
conscience, are as hateful to the subject as monopolies. For the
second, if any man out of his own wit, industry or endeavour
find out anything beneficial for the commonwealth . . . her
Majesty is pleased perhaps to grant him a privilege to use the
same only by himself or his deputies for a certain time : this is
one kind of monopoly. Sometimes there is a glut of things
when they be in excessive quantities, as of corn, and perhaps
her Majesty gives licence to one man of transportation : this is
another kind of monopoly. Sometimes there is a scarcity or
small quantity : and the like is granted also. These and divers
of this nature have been in trial, both in the Common Pleas,
upon actions of trespass, (where, if the judges do find the
privilege good for the commonwealth, they then will allow it,
otherwise disallow it), and also I know that her Majesty
herself hath given commandment to lier attorney-general, to
bring divers of them, since the last parliament, to trial in the
Exchequer; since which time at least fifteen or sixteen, to my
knowledge, have been repealed ; some upon her Majesty's own
express command, upon complaint made unto her by petition,
and some by quo warranto in the exchequer. But, Mr S^^eaker,
(said he, pointing to the bill) this is no stranger in this place,
but a stranger in this vestment : the use hath been ever
by petition to humble ourselves unto her Majesty and by
petition to desire to have our grievances redressed, especially
when the remedy toucheth her so nigh in ^jrerogative. All
cannot be done at once, neither was it possible since the last
parliament to repeal all. If her Majesty make a patent or
a monopoly unto any of her servants, that we must go and cry
out against : but if she grant it to a number of burgesses
or a corporation, that must stand, and that forsooth is no
monopoly. I say, and I say again, that we ought not to deal
or meddle with or judge of her Majesty's prerogative . . .
Br. Bennet. He that will go about to debate her Majesty's
prerogative royal, must walk warily. In respect of a grievance
out of that city for which I serve, I think myself bound to
speak that now which I had not intended to speak before ;
I mean a monopoly of salt. It is an old proverb, ' Sal sapit
1601.] Debate on Monopolies. 113
omnia'; fire and water are not more necessai-y. But for other
monopolies of cards (at which word Sir Walter Rawleigli
blushed) dice, starch, &c., they are, because monopolies, I must
confess, very hateful, though not so hurtful. I know there is
a great difference in them ; and I think, if the abuse in this
monopoly of salt were particularized, this would walk in the
fore-rank . . .
Mr Lawrence Hide. I confess, Mr Speaker, that I owe
duty to God and loyalty to my prince. And for the bill itself
I made it, and I think I understand it : and far be it from this
heart of mine to think, this tongue to speak, or this hand
to write anything, either in prejudice or derogation of her
Majesty's prerogative royal and the state . . . And, Mr Speaker,
as I think it is no derogation to the omnipotency of God, to say
he can do no ill, so I think, it is no derogation to the person
or majesty of the Queen, to say so . . . Yet, because two eyes
may see more than one, I humbly pray that there may be
a commitment had of this bill, lest something may be therein
which may prove the bane and overthrow thereof at the time
of the jjassing . . .
Mr Francis Moore. Mr Speaker, I know the Queen's pre-
rogative is a thing curious to be dealt withal, yet all grievances
are not comparable. I cannot utter with my tongue or con-
ceive with my heart the great grievances that the town and
country, for which I serve, suffer by some of these monopolies.
It bringeth the general profit into a private hand, and the end
of all is beggary and bondage to the subjects. We have a law
for the true and faithful currying of leather : there is a patent
that sets all at liberty, notwithstanding that statute. And to
what purpose is it to do anything by act of parliament, when
the Queen will undo the same by her prerogative ? Out of the
spirit of humility, Mr Speaker, I do speak it : there is no act
of hers that hath been or is more derogatory to her own
Majesty, or more odious to the subject, or more dangerous to
the commonwealth than the granting of these monopolies . . .
Sir George Moore. I make no question but that this bill
offereth good matter, and I do wish that the matter may in
some sort be prosecuted, and the bill rejected . . . We know
the power of her Majesty cannot be restrained by any
114 Elizabeth. [leoi.
Act ; why, therefore, should we thus talk ? Admit we should
make this statute with a non obstante, yet the Queen may grant
a patent with a non obstante, to cross this non obstante. I think,
therefore, that it agreeth more with the wisdom and gravity of
this house to proceed with all humbleness by petition than bill.
Mr Wingjield. I would but put the house in mind of the
proceedings we had in this matter the last parliament, in the
end whereof our Speaker moved her Majesty by way of petition,
that the grief touching these monopolies might be respected
and the grievance coming of them might be redressed. Her
Majesty answered by the Lord Keeper : that she would take
care of these monopolies, and our griefs should be redressed ;
if not, she would give us free liberty to proceed in making
a law the next parliament. The wound, Mr Speaker, is still
bleeding, and we grieve under the sore and are without remedy.
It was my hap the last parliament to encounter with the word
Prerogative ; but as then, so now I do it with all humility,
and wish all happiness both unto it and her Majesty. I am
indifferent touching our proceedings, whether by bill or petition,
because that therein our grievance may follow, whereby her
Majesty may specially understand them . . .
[The following passages occurred in Committee, November
21.]
Sir Edward Stanhope informed the House of the great abuse
by the patentee for salt in his country, that betwixt Michaelmas
and St Andrew's tide, where salt was wont (before the patent)
to be sold for i6d. a bushel, it is now sold for 14s. and 15s.
a bushel : but, after the Lord President had understood thereof,
he committed the patentee, who caused it to be sold as
before ... To Lynn there is every year brought at least 3000
weight of salt ; and every weight, since this patent, is enhanced
20s.; and where the bushel was wont to be 8d. it is now i6d.
And I dare boldly say it, if this patent were called in, there might
well be £3000 a year saved in the ports of Lynn, Boston, and
Hull. I speak this of white salt. ^
Mr Francis Bacon. The bill is very injurious and ridi-
culous ; injurious, in that it taketh or rather sweepeth away
her Majesty's jjrerogative ; and ridiculous, in that there is a
proviso, that this statute shall not extend to grants made to
1601.] Debate on Monopolies. 115
corporations ; that is a gull to sweeten the hill withal ; it is only
to make fools fond. All men of the law know that a bill which
is only expositorj'^, to expound the common law, doth enact
nothing ; neither is any proviso good therein . . . Therefore
I think the bill unfit, and our proceedings to be by petition.
Sir liohert Wroth . . . There have been divers patents granted
since the last parliament ; these are now in being, viz. the
patents for currents, iron, powder, cards, horns, ox-shin bones,
train-oil, transportation of leather, lists of cloth, ashes, bottles,
glasses, hags, shreds of gloves, aniseed, vinegar, sea-coals, steel,
aquavitfe, brushes, pots, salt, salt-petre, lead, accedence, oil,
calamiut stone, oil of blubber, fumathoes, or dried j^ilchers in
the smoke, and divers others.
Upon reading of the patents aforesaid, Mr Hackwell of
Lincoln's Inn stood up and asked thus : Is not bread there *?
Bread, quoth another ; This voice seems strange, quoth a third.
No, quoth Mr Hackwell, but if order be not taken for these,
bread will be there before the next parliament.
[On November 23, the debate was renewed.]
Mr Secretary Cecil. If there had not been some mistaking
or confusion in the committee, I would not now have spoken.
The question was, of the most convenient way to reform these
grievances of monopolies : but after disputation, of that labour
we have not received the expected fruit . . . This dispute draws
two great things in question ; first, the prince's power ; secondly,
the freedom of Englishmen. I am born an Englishman, and
a fellow-member of this House ; I would desire to live no day,
in which I should detract from either. I am servant to the
Queen ; and before I would speak or give my consent to a case
that should debase her prerogative or abridge it, I would wisli
my tongue cut out of my head. I am sure there were law-
makers before there were laws ... If you stand upon law, and
dispute of the prerogative, hark what Bracton saith, ' Preroga-
tivam nostram nemo audeat disputare.' For my own part, I like
not these courses should be taken. And you, Mr Speaker,
should perform the charge her Majesty gave unto you at the
beginning of this parliament not to receive bills of this nature ;
for her Majesty's ears be open to all grievances, and her hand
stretched out to every man's petition. For the matter of access
I 2
ii6 Elizabeth. [leoi.
I like It well, so it be first moved and the way prepared. I had
rather all the patents were burnt than her Majesty should lose
the hearts of so many subjects as is pretended she will . . .
[On November 25, the Speaker brouglit the following message
to the house.]
It pleased her Majesty to command me to attend upon her
yesterday in the afternoon, from whom I am to deliver unto you
all her Majesty's most gracious message, sent by my unworthy
self ... It pleased her Majesty to say unto me, That if she had
an hundred tongues she could not exjiress our hearty good- wills.
And further she said, That as she had ever held our good most
dear, so the last day of our or her life should witness it ; and
that if the least of her subjects were grieved, and herself not
touched, she appealed to the throne of Almighty God, how
careful she hath been, and will be, to defend her people from
all oppressions. She said, That partly by intimation of her
council, and partly by divers petitions that have been delivered
unto her both going to chapel and also walking abroad, she
understood that divers patents, that she had granted, were
grievous to her subjects; and that the substitutes of the
patentees had used great oppression. But, she said, she never
assented to grant anything which Avas malum in se. And if in
the abuse of her grant there be anything evil, which she took
knowledge there was, she herself would take ])resent order of
refoimation thereof. I cannot express unto you the ajjparent
indignation of her Majesty towards these abuses. She said her
kingly prerogative was tender ; and therefore desireth us not to
speak or doubt of her careful reformation ; for, she said, her
commandment given a little before the late troubles (meaning
the Karl of Essex's matters) by the unfortunate event of them
was not so hindered, but that since that time, even in the midst
of her most great and weighty occasions, she thought upon
them. And that this should not suffice, but that further order
should be taken presently, and not in futuro (for that also
was another word which I take it her Majesty used), and that
some should be presently repealed, some suspended, and none
put in execution but such as should first have a trial according
to the law for the good of the people. Against the abuses her
wiath was so incensed, that she said, that she neither could nor
1562.] Privileges: customary demand. 117
would suffei* such to escape with impunity. So to my unspeak-
able comfort she hath made me the messenger of this her
gracious thankfulness and care.
Toionsend's Journah, pp. 230-249.
II. Privileges of Parliament.
1. Customary demand for privileges.
Speaker Williams^ Speech, 1562.
. . . Further, I am to be a suitor to your Majesty that, when
matters of imiiortance shall arise whereupon it shall be necessary
to have your Highness' opinion, that then I may have free access
unto you for the same ; and the like to the Lords of the Upper
House.
Secondly, that in repairing from the Nether House to your
Majesty or the Lords of the L^pper House, to declare their
meanings, and I mistaking or uttering the same contrary to
their meaning, that then my fault or imbecility in declaring
thereof be not prejudicial to the House, but that I may again
repair to them, the better to understand their meanings and so
they to reform the same.
Thirdly, that the assembly of the Lower House may have
frank and free liberties to speak their minds without any con-
trolment, blame, grudge, menaces or displeasure, according to
the old ancient order.
Finally, that the old privilege of the House be observed,
which is that they and theirs might be at liberty, frank and
free, without arrest, molestation, trouble or other damage to
their bodies, lands, goods or servants, with all other their
liberties, during the time of the said parliament, whereby they
may the better attend and do their duty ; all which privileges
I desire may be enrolled, as at other times it hath been
accustomed. D' Ewes' Journals, pp. 65-66.
2. Permanent committee for privileges.
(a) It is ordered that Mr Comptroller [and 9 others] shall ex-
amine such matters of privilege as shall happen in this present
session of parliament to come in question, and to make reports
ii8 Elizabeth. [isee.
thereof unto this House, for the further oider and resolution
of this House in every of the same cases as shall appertain.
ly Ewes' Journah, p. 429 (under date 7 Feb. 1589).
(b) Ordered, That all the meinhers of this House being of her
Majesty's Privy Council [and 30 others] shall during all this
preeent session of parliament examine and make report of all
such cases touching the elections and returns of any the knights,
citizens, burgesses and barons of this House, and also all such
cases for privilege as in any wise may occur or fall out during
all the same session of parliament . . . D'Ewea' Journals, p. 471.
3. Freedom of Speech.
(a) Debate on the Queens marriage and the succession, 1566.
November 9, 1556. Mr Vice -Chamberlain declared the
Queen's Majesty's express commandment , to this House, that
they should no further proceed in their suit, but to satisfy
themselves with her Highness' promise of marriage . . .
November 11. Paul Wentworth, one of the burgesses,
moved whethei' the Queen's commandment was not against the
liberties : whereupon arose divers arguments, continuing from
nine of the clock till two after noon . . .
November 12. Mr Speaker, being sent for to attend upon
the Queen's Majesty at the court, ... at his coming after ten of
the cloclv, began to show that he had received a special com-
mandment from her Highness to this House, notwithstanding
her first commandment, that there should not be further talk
of that matter : and if any person thought himself not satisfied
but had further reasons, let him come before the Privy Council,
there to show them.
November 25. Mr Speaker, coming from the Queen's
Majesty, declared her Highness' pleasure to be that, for her good
will to the House, she did revoke her two former command-
ments, requiring the House no further at this time to proceed
in the matter : which revocation was taken of all the House
most joyfully with most hearty prayer and thanks for the
same. Commons' Journals, I. 76, 77.
1571.] Privileges: freedom of speech. 119
(b) Sjyeech of the Lord Keeper, 4 A2)ril, 1571.
. . . Her Majesty, having experience of late of some disorder and
certain offences (which though they were not punished yet were
they offences still and so must be accounted), therefore said,
they should do well to meddle with no matters of state but
such as should be propounded unto them, and to occupy them-
selves with other matters concerning the commonwealth.
D' Ewes' Journals, p. 141.
(c) Debate on Mr Strickland's inhibition, 20 April, 1571.
3Ir Carleton. A member of the House was detained from
them (meaning Mr Strickland), by whose commandment or for
what cause he knew not. But forasmuch as he was not now
a private man, but to supply the room, person and place of
a multitude specially chosen and therefore sent, he thought that
neither in regard of the country, which was not to be wronged,
nor for the liberty of the house, which was not to be infringed,
we should permit him to be detained from us ; but, whatso-
ever the intendment of this offence might be, that he should
be sent for to the bar of that House, there to be heard and
there to answer.
Sir Francis Knolles. The man that is meant is neither
detained nor misused, but on considerations is required to
expect the Queen's pleasure upon certain special points :
wherein, he said, he durst to assure that the man should neither
have cause to dislike or complain, since so much favour was
meant unto him as he reasonably could wish. He further said,
that he was in no sort stayed for any word or speech by him in
that place offered, but for the exhibiting of a bill into the
House against the prerogative of the Queen, which was not
to be tolerated.
Mr Yelverton. First, he said, the precedent was perilous,
and though in this happy time of lenity, among so good and
honourable personages, under so gracious a prince, nothing of
extremity or injury was to be feared ; yet the times might be
altered, and what now is permitted hereafter might be construed
as of duty and enforced even on this ground of the present
permission . . . He showed, it was fit for princes to have their
prerogatives ; but yet the same to be straitened within
I20 Elizabeth. [1572.
reasonable limits. The prince, lie showed, could not of herself
make laws, neither might she by the same reason break laws ^
D^ Ewes' Journals, pp. 1 75, 1 76.
(d) Message from the Queen, 22 May, 1572.
May 22, 1572 . . . Upon declaration made unto this House
by Mr Speaker from the Queen's Majesty, that her Highness'
pleasure is that from henceforth no bills concerning religion
shall be preferred or received into this House, unless the same
should be first considered or liked by the clergy ; and further
that her Majesty's pleasure is to see the two last bills read in
this House touching Rites and Ceremonies ; it is ordered,
That the same bills shall be delivered unto her Majesty . . .
Commons^ Journals, p. 97.
(e) Speech of Peter Wenhcorth, 8 Feb., 1576.
I was never of parliament but the last, and the last session,
at both which times I saw the liberty of free speech, the which
is the only salve to heal all the sores of this commonwealth, so
much and so many ways infringed, and so many abuses offered
to this honourable council, as hath much grieved me even of
very conscience and love to my prince and state. Wherefore
to avoid the like, I do think it expedient to open the com-
modities that grow to the prince and whole state by free
speech used in this place . . . Amongst other, Mr Speaker,
two things do great hurt in this place, of the which I do mean
to speak : the one is a rumour which runneth about the House,
and this it is, ' Take heed what you do, the Queen liketh not
such a matter: whosoever preferreth it, she will be offended
with him ; or the contraiy, her Majesty liketh of such a matter:
whosoever speaketh against it, she will be much offended with
him.' The other: sometimes a message is brought into the
house, either of commanding or inhibiting, very injurious to
the freedom of speech and consultation. I would to God,
Mr Speaker, that these two were buried in hell, I mean rumours
and messages . . .
This grievous rumour, What is it forsooth 1 Whatsoever
^ The inhibition on Mr Strickland's attendance was taken off next day,
April 21.
1576.] Privileges: freedom of speech. 121
thou art that pronouncest it, thou dost pronounce thy own
discredit. Why sol for that thou dost what lieth in thee to
pronounce the prince to be perjured . . . For the Queen's
Majesty is the head of the law, and must of necessity maintain
the law; for by the law her Majesty is made justly our
Queen, and by it she is most chiefly maintained . . . The
King ought not to be under man, but under God and under
the law, because the law maketh him a King ... I pray you
mark the reason why my authority^ saith, 'The King ought
to be under the law,' for, saith he, ' He is God's vicegerent upon
earth,' that is, his lieutenant to execute and do his will, the
which is law or justice ; and thereunto was her Majesty sworn
at her coronation, as I have heard learned men in this place
sundry times affirm ; unto the which I doubt not but her
Majesty will, for her honour and conscience sake, have special
regard, fur free speech and conscience in this place are granted
by a special law, as that without the which the prince and
state cannot be preserved or maintained.
Now the other was a message ', Mr Speaker, brought the
last session into the House that we should not deal in any
matters of religion, but first to receive from the bishops. Surely
this was a doleful message ; for it was as much as to say, ' Sirs,
ye shall not deal in God's causes, no, ye shall in no wise seek to
advance His glory ' . . . Certain it is, Mr Speaker, that none is
without fault, no, not our noble Queen, since her Majesty hath
committed great fault, yea dangerous faults to herself. Love,
even perfect love, void of dissimulation, will not suffer me to
hide them to her Majesty's peril, but to utter them to her
Majesty's safety : and these they are. It is a dangerous thing
in a prince unkindly to abuse his or her nobility and people,
and it is a dangerous thing in a prince to oppose or bend
herself against her nobility and people, yea against most loving
and faithful nobility and people.
... I do surely think, before God I speak it, that the bishops
were the cause of that doleful message ; and I will show you
what moveth me so to think. I was, amongst others, the last
parliament sent unto the bishop of Canterbury, for the Articles
of Eeligion that then passed this House. He asked us. Why we
' Bracton. 2 ggg above, p. 120 (d).
122 Elizabeth. [157 6.
did put out of the book the Articles for the Homilies, Con-
secrating of Bishops, and such like 1 Surely, sir, said I, because
we were so occupied in other matters, that we had no time to
examine them how they agreed with the Word of God. What,
said he, surely you mistook the matter, you will refer your-
selves wholly to us therein ? No, by the faith I bear to God,
said I, we will pass nothing before we understand what it
is, for that were but to make you Popes ; make you Popes
who list, said I, for we will make you none . . .
Thus I have holden you long with my rude speech ; the
which since it tendeth wholly with pure conscience to seek the
advancement of God's glory, our honourable Sovereign's safety,
and the sure defence of this noble isle of England, and all by
maintaining of the liberties of this honourable council, the
fountain from whence all these do spring ; my humble and
hearty suit unto you all is, to accept my good-will, and that
this that I have here spoken out of conscience and great zeal
unto my prince and state, may not be buried in the pit of
oblivion, and so no good come thereof.
D^ Ewes' Journals, pp. 236-241.
(f ) Speech of Sir W. Mildmay, 12 March, 1576.
. . . True it is, that nothing can be well concluded in a
council where there is not allowed, in debating of causes
brought in, deliberation, liberty, and freedom of speech ; other-
wise, if in consultation men be either interrupted or terrified,
so as they cannot nor dare not speak their opinions freely,
like as that council cannot but be reputed for a servile council,
even so all the proceedings therein shall be rather to satisfy
the wills of a few, than to determine that which shall be just
and reasonable. But herein we may not forget to put a differ-
ence between liberty of speech and licentious speech ; for by
the one men deliver their opinions freely, and with this caution,
that all be spoken, pertinently, modestly, reverently and dis-
creetly; the other contrariwise uttereth all impertinently,
rashly, arrogantly and irreverently, without respect of person,
time or place : and though freedom of speech hath always
' For this speech Mr Wentworth was committed to the Tower, where
he remained till 13 March, 1576.
1587.] Privileges: freedom of speech. 123
been used iii this great council of parliament, and is a thing
most necessary to be presei'ved amongst us ; yet the same was
never nor ought to be extended f^o far, as though a man in this
House may speak what and of whom he list. The contrary
whereof, both in our own days and in the days of our pre-
decessors, by the punishment of such inconsiderate and dis-
orderly speakers, hath appeared. B' Ewes' Journals, p. 259.
(g) Speech of Mr Wentworth^, i March, 1587.
Mr Speaker, forasmuch as such laws as God is to be
honoured by, and that also such laws as our noble Sovereign
and this worthy realm of England are to be enriched, strength-
ened and preserved by from all foreign and domestic enemies
and traitors, are to be made by this honourable council, I . . .
do earnestly desire, by question, to be satisfied of a few ques-
tions to be moved by you, Mr Speaker, concerning the liberty
of this honourable council. Wherefore I pray you, Mr Speaker,
eftsoons to move these few articles, by question, whereby
every one of this House may know how far he may proceed in
this honourable council, in matters that concern the glory of
God and our true and loyal service to our prince and state.
For I am fully persuaded, that God cannot be honoured, neither
our noble prince or commonweal preserved or maintained,
without free speech and consultation of this honourable council,
both which consist upon the liberties of this honourable
council, and the knowledge of them also. So here are the
questions, Mr Speaker : I humbly and heartily beseech you to
give them reading, and God grant us true and faithful hearts in
answering of them ; for the true, faithful, and hearty service of
our merciful God, our lawful prince, and this whole and
worthy realm of England, will much consist hereafter upon the
answer unto these questions . . . :
Whether this council be not a place for any member of the
same here assembled, freely and without conti'olment of any
person, or danger of laws, by bill or speech, to utter any of the
griefs of this commonwealth whatsoever, touching the service of
God, the safety of the prince, and this noble realm 1 — Whether
^ It does not appear whether this were Paul or Peter Wentworth.
1 24 Elizabeth. [i589.
that great honour may be done unto God and benefit and
service unto the prince and state without free speech in this
council, which may be done with it ? — Whether there be any
council which can make, add to or diminish from the laws of
the realm, but only this council of parliament 1 — Whether it be
not against the orders of this council to make any secret or
matter of weight, which is here in hand, known to the prince
or any other, concerning the high service of God, prince or
state, without the consent of the house ? — Whether the Speaker
or any other may interrupt any member of this council in his
speech used in this House, tending to any of the forenaraed
high services 1 — Whether the Speaker may rise when he will,
any matter being propounded, without consent of the House, or
not ? — Whether the Speaker may overrule the House in any
matter or cause there in question ; or whether he is to be ruled
or overruled in any matter, or not ? — Whether the prince and
state can continue, stand and be maintained Avithout this
council of parliament, not altering the government of the
state '. D'Hwe* Journals, p. 411.
(h) Message from the Queen to the Lords, 27 February, 1589.
My Lord Treasurer showed them that the message from her
Majesty delivered this day unto the Lords of the Upper House
was concerning two Bills . . . the one concerning Purveyors
and the other touching process and pleadings in the Court of
Exchequer, a thing misliked of her Majesty in both those cases,
the one binding to the officers and ministers of her own house-
hold, and the other to the ofiicers and ministers of her own court
[and] of her own revenues ; in both of which if any should
demean themselves any way unlawfully or untruly, her Majesty
was of herself (he said) both able and willing to see due re-
formation, and so would do to public example of others upon
any of the said officers and ministers which at any time should
be found to offend . . . D'Ewes' Journals, p. 440.
(i) Speech of the Lord Keeper, 19 February, 1593.
... To your three demands the Queen answereth ; libex'ty of
' The questions were not put, and Mr Wentworth, Mr Cope and three
other members were sent to the Tower.
1593.] Privileges: freedom of speech. 125
speech is granted you ; but how far this is to be thought on,
there be two things of most necessity, and those two do most
harm, which are wit and speech : the one exercised in inven-
tion, and the other in uttering things invented. Privilege of
speech is granted, but you must know what privilege you
have ; not to speak every one what lie listeth, or what cometh
in his brain to utter that ; but your privilege is, aye or no.
Wherefore, Mr Speaker, her Majesty's pleasure is, That if you
perceive any idle heads, which will not stick to hazard their
own estates, which will meddle with reforming the Church
and transforming the Commonwealth, and do exhibit any bills
to such purpose, that you receive them not, until they be
viewed and considered by those who it is fitter should consider
of such things and can better judge of them. To your persons
all privilege is granted, with this caveat, that under colour of
this privilege, no man's ill-doings or not performing of duties
be covered and protected. The last ; free access is granted to
her Majesty's person, so that it be upon urgent and weighty
causes, and at times convenient, and when her Majesty may be
at leisure from other imiiortant causes of the realm.
D^Eices Journals, p. 460.
(k) Message from the Queen to the Commons, 27 Feb., 1593.
[The Speaker.^ The Message delivered me from her Majesty
consisteth of three things ; first, the end for which the Par-
liament was called : secondly, the speech which her Majesty
used by my Lord Keej^er : thirdly, what her pleasure and
commandment now is. For the first, ' It is in me and my
power ' (I speak now in her Majesty's person) ' to call parlia-
ments ; and it is in my power to end and determine the same ;
it is in my power to assent or dissent to anything done in
Parliament . . . '
Her Majesty's most excellent pleasure being then delivered
unto us by the Lord Keeper, it was not meant we should
meddle with matters of state, or in causes ecclesiastical (for so
her Majesty termed them). She wondered ' that any would be
of so high commandment to attempt' (I use her own words)
* a thing contrary to that which she hath so expressly for-
bidden ' ; wherefore, with this she was highly displeased. And
126 Elizabeth. [1572.
because the words then spoken by my Lord Keeper are not
now perhaps well remembered, or some be now here that were
not there, her Majesty's present charge and express command
is, ' That no bills touching matters of state, or reformation in
causes eeclesiastical, be exhibited.' And, upon my allegiance,
I am commanded, if any such bill be exhibited, not to read it.
D^Mwes^ Journah, p. 478.
4. Freedom from Arrest.
(a) House of Lords.
[30 June, 1572] . . . Whei'eas, upon complaint and declaration
made to the said Lords spiritual and temporal, by Heniy Lord
Cromwell, a Lord of the Parliament, that, in a cause between
one James Tavernor against the said Lord Cromwell depending in
the Court of Chancery, . . . the person of the said Lord Crom-
well was by the sheriff of the county of Norfolk attached, by
virtue of a writ of attachment proceeding out of the said Court
of Chancery, contrary to the ancient jjrivilege and immunity,
time out of memory, unto the Lords of Parliament and Peers of
this realm in such case used and allowed, as on the behalf of
the said Lord Cromwell was declared and affirmed ; wherein
the said Lord Cromwell, as a Lord of Parliament, prayed
remedy :
Forasmuch as, upon deliberate examination of this cause, in
the said Parliament-Chamber, in the presence of the Judges
and others of the Queen's Majesty's learned Counsel, there
attendant in Parliament, and upon declaration of the opinion
of the said Judges and learned Counsel, there hath been no
matter directly produced nor declared, whereby it did appear or
seem to the said Lords of Parliament there assembled that, by
the common law or custom of the realm, or by any statute law,
or by any precedent of the said Court of Chancery, it is
warranted that the person of any Lord, having place and voice
in Parliament, in the like case in the said Court of Chancery
before this time hath been attached ; so as the awarding of the
said attachment at the suit of the said Tavernor against the
said Lord Cromwell, for anything as yet declared unto the said
Lords, appeareth to be derogatory and prejudicial to the ancient
1593.] Privileges: freedom from arrest. 127
privilege claimed to belong to the said Lord of this realm :
therefore it is . . . Ordered by consent of all the said Lords in
Parliament there assembled, That the person of the said Lord
Cromwell be from henceforth discharged of and from the said
attachment. Lords Journals, I. 727.
(b) House of Commons.
(l) Martin's case\ 11 March, 1587.
Mr Speaker . . . moved these questions to the House, viz.
First, whether they would limit a time certain or a reasonable
time to any member of the House for his privilege. The
House answered, A convenient time.
Secondly, whether Mr Martin was arrested within this
reasonable time. The House answered, Yea.
Thirdly, if White should be punished for arresting Martin.
The House answered, No, because the arrest was twenty days
before the beginning of the Parliament, and unknown to him
that would be taken for reasonable time . . .
D' Ewes' Journals, pp. 410-414.
(2) Neales case, 6 March, 1593.
Wesselen "Weblen, beer-brewer, and John Lightburn, serjeant-
at-mace, being present at the Bar and charged by Mr Speaker
vei-y deeply and amply with their great contempt against the
authority and jurisdiction of this most High Court of Parlia-
ment, in arresting of Mr Francis Neale, one of the members of
this honourable assembly, to the great prejudice and derogation
of the ancient and usual liberties and privileges of this House
... It was in the end resolved upon the question, That they
should be committed prisoners to the Tower by order of thip
House, there to remain during the pleasure of this House . . .
D' Ewes' Journals, p. 519.
(3) Fitzherhert' s case"^, 5 April, 1593.
[Privilege was refused] First, because he was taken in execu-
tion before the return of the indenture of his election ; secondly,
' Martin was arrested during an adjournment.
* Fitzherbert was arrested on a writ of outlawry, two hours after his
election to parliament.
128 Elizabeth. fi576.
because he had been outlawed at the Queen's suit, and was now
taken in execution for her Majesty's debt ; thirdly and lastly, in
regard that he was so taken by the sheriff, neither sedente parlia-
mento nor etmdo nor redeundo. D' Ewes' Journals, p. 518.
(c) Members^ servants.
(i) Digges' case [House of Lords), i Dec, 1584.
[December i, 1584] . . . Memorandum, that where James
Digges, one of the ordinary gentlemen of my Lord's Grace of
Canterbury, was committed to the Fleet upon a lieddit se in
the Exchequer, sithence the beginning of this present parlia-
ment, the Lords, at the motion of my Lord's Grace, claiming the
ancient privilege of this High Court, gave commandment to the
Gentleman Usher that the said James Digges should be brought
before them ; and this day the said Lords . . . ordered. That
the said James Digges, by virtue of the privilege of this Court,
should be enlarged and set at liberty. Lords' Journals, I. 66.
(2) Smalleys case^ [House of Commons), Feb. 1576.
[Feb. 21, 1576] . . . Report was made by Mr Attorney of
the Duchy . . . That the said Committees found no precedent
for setting at large by the mace any person in arrest, but only
by writ ; and that ... it aiopeareth that every knight, citizen
and burgess of this House, which doth require privilege, hath
been used in that case to take a corporal oath before the Lord
Chancellor . . . that the party for whom such writ is made
came up with him and was his servant at the time of the arrest
made.
[Feb. 27] . . . After sundry reasons, arguments and disputa-
tions it is resolved, That Edward Smalley, servant unto Arthur
Halle, Esquire, shall be brought hither to-morrow by the
Serjeant, and so set at liberty by warrant of the mace and not
by writ.
[Feb. 28] . . . Edward Smalley . . . being this day brought to
the Bar in this House by the serjeant of this House and
accompanied with two Serjeants of London, was presently
delivered from his imprisonment and execution, according to
^ Smalley, servant to Mr Hall, having been arrested, the House ap-
pointed a Committee to search for precedents.
1597.] Privileges of Parliament. 129
the former judgment of this House, and the said Serjeants of
London discharged of their said prisoner.
Commons' Journals, I. 107-IC9.
5. Feeedom from Subp(enas, and from serving on juries.
(a) Cook's case [subpoena), 1585.
[February 10, 1585] ... In a case of subpoena out of the
Chancery, served upon Richard Cook, Esquire, a member of
this House ... it was ordered that Mr Recorder of London
[and two others] shall presently repair in the name of the whole
House into the . . . court of Chancery, and there to signify unto
the Lord Chancellor and the Master of the Rolls, that by the
ancient liberties of this House the members of the same are
privileged from being served with subpoenas . . .
[February 11]... Mr Recorder of London . . . being returned
from the Chancery, did declare unto the House that they have
been in Chancery . . . and were answered by the Lord Chan-
cellor that he thought this House had no such liberty of
privilege for sub2)oenas as they jDretended . . .
D' Ewes' Journals, p. 347.
(b) Stepnetlis case [subpoena), Feb. 1585.
[Feb. II, 1585] . . . After sundry motions ... it was at last
resolved by this House that the said Mr Kirle ^ had committed
a great contempt to this whole House and the liberties and
privileges of the same . . . , and thereupon ordered and adjudged
by this House, That the said Anthony Kirle &hall for his said
contempt be committed prisoner to the Serjeant's ward and
custody, there to remain during the pleasure of this House, and
shall also . . . pay unto the said Mr Stepneth . . . his costs
and charges . . . D' Ewes' Journals, p. 348.
(c) Trade's case {jury), Nov. 1597.
[Nov. 22, 1597] . . . Sir Edward Hobbie moved the House
for privilege for Sir John Tracie, being a member of this
House and now presently at the Common Pleas to be put on
' Kirle had served a subpoena out of the Star- Chamber on Mr Stepneth,
a member.
130 Elizabeth. [isse.
a jury. Whereupon the Serjeant of this House was presently
f-ent with tlie mace to call the said Sir John Tracie to his
attendance in this House . . . and the said Sir John then
returned to this House. D'Uwes' Journals, p. 560.
6. Eight of examining Returns and determining
THE Qualifications of Members.
(a) Returns: Norfolk election^, 1586.* resolutions of tlie House
of Commons.
First, That the first writ was duly executed and the election
good, and the second election absolutely void.
Secondly, That it was a most perilous precedent that, after
two knights of a county were duly elected, any new writ should
issue out for a second election Avithout order of the House of
Commons itself.
Thirdly, That the discussing and adjudging of this and such-
like differences only belonged to the said House.
Fourthly, That though the Lord Chancellor and Judges were
competent judges in their proper courts, yet they were not in
jDarliament.
Fifthly, That it should be entered in the very journal-book of
the House that the said first election was approved to be good,
and the said knights then chosen had been received and allowed
as members of the House, not out of any respect the said
House had or gave to the resolution of the Lord Chancellor and
Judges therein passed, but merely by reason of the resolution of
the House itself, by which the said election had been approved.
Sixthly and lastly. That there should no message be sent to
the Lord Chancellor, not so much as to know what he had done
therein, because it was conceived to be a matter derogatory to
the power and privilege of the said House.
D' Ewes' Journals, p. 397.
^ An election for the county of Norfolk having taken place, in which
there was some informality, a second writ was issued and a second election
made. The Chancellor and the Judges decided the first election to be
good. The House appointed a Committee (Nov. 9, 1586) 'to examine the
state and circumstances of the returns ' for Norfolk, and in accordance
with their report passed the above resolutions.
1581.] Privileges of Parliament. 131
(b) Qualifications: Smyth's case {outlawry), 1559.
[Feb. 24, 1559] • • • John Smyth, returned Burgess for
Camelford . . . , upon a declaration by Mr Marshe that he had
come to this House being outlawed, and also had deceived
divers merchants in London . . . , the examination whereof . . .
was found and reported to be true . . . , upon which matters
consultation had in the House, the question was asked by
Mr Speaker, if he should have privilege of this House or not . . .
ordered, That he shall still continue a member of this House.
Commons' Journals, I. p. 55.
(c) Lord RusselVs case: {eldest sons ofjjcers), 1576.
[Feb. 9, 1576]. It is this day ordered by this House . . .
that John Lord Russell, son and heir apparent of tlie . . . Earl
of Bedford, being a burgess for the borough of Bridport . . .
shall continue a member of this House, according to the like
former precedent in the like case had heretofore of the said
now Earl his father. Commons'' Journals, I. p. 104.
7. Right of punishment and expulsion of Members.
Hall's case, 1581.
[February 14, 1581] . . . Where it was informed unto this
House . . . that Arthur Halle, of Grantham, in the county of
Lincoln, Esquire, had sithence the last session of Parliament
made, set forth in print and published a book ... in part
greatly tending to the slander and reproach not only of Sir
Robert Bell . . . , late Speaker of this Parliament, and of sundry
the particular members of this House, but also of the pro-
ceedings of this House in the same last session of Parliament,
in a cause that concerned the said Arthur Halle and one
Smalley his man : and that there was also contained a long
discourse, tending to the diminishment of the ancient authority
of this House . . . : Resolved and ordered by the whole House,
without any one negative voice. That he should be. committed
to prison : and . . . that he should be committed to the prison
of the Tower, as the prison usual for offenders to be committed
unto by this House : and that he should remain in the said
prison of the Tower by the space of six months . . .: and . . ;
K 2
132 Elizabeth. [i57i.
that a fine should be assessed by this House, to the Queen's
Majesty's use, upon the said Arthur Halle . . .: and . . . that the
same fine should be five hundred marks : and . . . that the
said Arthur Halle should presently be removed . . . from being
any longer a member of this House during the continuance of
this present Parliament ; and that the Speaker . . . should
direct a warrant from this House . . . for a new Burgess to be
returned into this present Parliament for the said borough of
Grantham, in the lieu and stead of the said Arthur Halle, so as
before disabled any longer to be a member of this House.
Commons' Journals, I. pp. 126, 127.
8. Jurisdiction over persons not Members op
Parliament.
(a) The CorporafAon of Westhury, 157 1.
May 10, 1 57 1 . . . Forasmuch as Thomas Longe, gentleman,
returned one of the Burgesses for the borough for Westbury , . .
being a very simple man and of small capacity to serve in that
place, hath this day in open court confessed that he gave unto
Anthony Garlande, Mayor of the said town of Westbury and
unto one Watts of the same town, the sum of £4 for that place
and room of burgessship ; it is ordered that the said Anthony
Garlande and the said Watts shall immediately repay unto the said
Thomas Longe the said sum of £4 ; and also that a fine of £20
be by this House assessed upon the corporation or inhabitants
of the said town of Westbury, . . . for their said lewd and
slanderous attempt . . . Commons' Journals, I. p. 88.
(b) Williams case, 1576.
February 29, 1576 . , . Upon a motion made by Eobert
Baynebrigge, gentleman, one of the Burgesses . . . against one
Williams, as well for sundry unfitting speeches pronounced by
the said Williams, in misliking of the present state and govern-
ment of this realm, as also for threatening and assaulting of
the said Robert Baynebrigge; the Serjeant of this House is
thereupon, by order of this House, presently sent for the said
Williams ... to answer unto this House of such matters as
shall be objected against him . . .
1571.] Distraint of Knighthood. 133
Walter Williams, being brought to the Bar, confessed that
lie did strike Mr Baynebrigge and that he offered to strike at
him with his dagger : whereupon it is ordered that he remain
in the Serjeant's ward, till the order of this House be further
known tomorrow. Commons Journals, I. p. 109.
9. Privacy of Debate.
April 5, 1 57 1. Thomas Clarke and Anthony Bull, of the
Inner Temple in London, gentlemen, were by this House com-
mitted to the Serjeant's ward until further order should be taken
with them ; for that they presumed to enter into this House
and were themselves no members of the same, as themselves at
the Bar confessed. Commons' Journals, I. p. 83.
III.— UNPARLIAMENTARY TAXATION.
1. Distraint of Knighthood.
Pro Or dine, Militari recipiendo de summonitionibus.
Eegina praedilectis et fidelibus suis Roberto Domino Dudley,
magistro equorum, [et quatuor aliis], salutem. Cum nos, ex
certis causis urgentibus, diversa brevia nostra omnibus et sin-
gulis vicecomitibus de quolibet comitatu, civitate et burgo
regni nostri Angliae mandaverimus, praecipiendo quod quilibet
hujusmodi vicecomes summoneiet omnes et siugulos infra
ballivas suas, tam infra libertates quam extra, terras tenementa
vel haereditamenta quaecumque annul valoris quadraginta
librarum in usu vel possessione habentes, quod compareant ad
certum diem et locum in hujusmodi brevibus contentos, ad
recipiendum ordinem militarem juxta formam statuti in hujus-
modi casu editi et provisi ; Sciatis quod nos . . . assignavimus
vos commissionarios nostros ad tractandum, communicaudum et
componeiidum cum omnibus et singulis subditis nostris qui
finem nobiscum facere voluerint pro exoneratione praedicti
ordiuis militaris hac vice : dantes et concedentes vobis, quatuor,
tribus vel duobus vestrum, plenam auctoritatem et potestatem
jjer j)raesentes tractandi . . . et concludendi cum omnibus et
134 Elizabeth<. [1558,
singulis dictis subditis nostris qui finem nobiscum in hujusraodi
casu facere voluerint, necnon taxandi et assidendi hujusmodi
fines ad certain pecuniarum sumraam, prout cum subditis nostris
praedictis, quibus interest in hac parte, concordare poteritis, ac
diem solutionis hujusmodi finium limitandi et appunctandi
juxta sanas discretiones vestras . . .
Teste Regina apud Westmonasterium [20 Dec. 1558]
Per ipsam Reginam.
Rymer, Foedera, XV. p. 493.
2. Loans.
(a) Circular letter from the Council to tJie Lords-Lieutenant of
the counties for a loan ^
After our very hearty commendations to your good lordship,
we doubt not but both to your lordship and also to others that
have had any charge this last year in any part of government
within this realm it is manifest, how necessary it was that this
realm was defended both by sea and land in such sort as had
been seen against the common potent enemy attempting to have
invaded and made a conquest of the same : wherein the Queen's
Majesty with the assistance of God's special favour and by
expenses of great treasures, which she had most princely re-
served for the maintenance of the state of this her realm, hath
received great honour to herself, to her people singular comfort
and safety, and hereby her enemies repulsed with great losses,
ignominy and dishonour : yet nevertheless ber Majesty in her
wisdom seeth it most necessary to make new preparations for
the strengtliening of all her forces, both by sea and land, to
serve to withstand the new attempts of the enemy this year
following . . .
And for the more speedy help to this, it is thought by her
Majesty and us of her council, that presently means be made
to provide some convenient sum of money by way of loan or
lending of her good and faithful subjects, as heretofore hath
been yielded unto her Majesty in times of less need and danger,
and yet always fully repaid. And to this end we have thought
meet by her Majesty's direction to commend the care hereof to
* Dated 4 December, 158S (Strype).
1588.] Loans. 135
your lordship, having charge by her Majesty, as her lieutenant
in the said shire ; praying your lordship that without any delay
your lordship will consider, either by your own knowledge or
with secret conference with some such in that shire as you think
to be well affected to this service and are of knowledge to
inform your lordship therein, how of each particular person,
being men of lands or of wealth in goods, such particular sums
might be reasonably required by her Majesty's letters under her
privy seal in way of loan in that whole county, [as that] her
Majesty might be assured upon her demand by her said letters
to every several person to have the total sum within that shire
of [blank] or rather more.
And to this purpose we require your lordship to consider if
the number of all such as are known to be of sufficient livelihood
and wealth within that shire, of whom you shall think her
Majesty may readily have by way of loan, only for the space of
one whole year, such particular sums of hundreds of pounds or
of half hundreds of pounds, or at the least not under the sum
of ,£25, according as the abilities of the people shall seem meet
to yield.
And in this matter we require you to forbear none that hath
any residence within that shire, being in your opinion able to
satisfy this purpose. And yet if there be any person of ability,
that is an officer to her Majesty in any of her courts of record
or of her revenue, that hath any fee or yearly profit by any
such office, we require you to make a special note of such, with
your opinion of the sums to be demanded : for that we are
purposed that if the sums noted by you upon them shall not
seem to us sufficient for her Majesty's service, the same shall be
by us assessed to such sums as we shall think reasonable.
And to conclude, we require your lordship, with all speed that
you can, to enter into consideration hereof; and to send to us
in writing the names and surnames, with addition of their
dwelling places, of all such as shall seem meet and able to make
this manner of loan, so as the total sum above-mentioned, or
a greater sum, may be duly had.
Strype, Annals, VI. p. 40.
136 Elizabeth. [i588.
(b) Privy Seal for a loan.
To our trusty and well-beloved Thomas Lawley of the
Coppies, gent. ^
By the Queen.
Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. "Whereas for
the better withstanding of the intended invasion of this realm,
upon the great preparations made by the King of Spain both
by sea and land the last year, the same having been such as the
like was never prepared at any time against this realm, we were
enforced for the defence of the same and of our good and loving
subjects to be at infinite charges both by sea and land, especially
for that the said intended invasion tended directly to the con-
quest of the realm ; and finding also by such intelligences as
we daily receive that the like preparations are now making for
the like intent the next year by the said King, for the with-
standing whereof it shall be necessary for us to prepare both by
sea and land, which cannot be performed without gi'eat charges;
We have therefore thought it expedient, having always found
our good and loving subjects most ready upon such like occasion
to furnish us by way of loan of some convenient portions of
money agreeable with their estates (which we have a mind
always to repay), to have recourse unto them in like manner at
this present. And therefore having made choice in the several
jDarts of our realm of a number able to do us this kind of service
(which is not refused betwixt neighbour and neighbour),
amongst this number we have also particularly named you,
Thomas Lawley, for your ability and good will you bear to us
and our realm, to be one. Wherefore we require you to
pay to our use the sum of ,£25 to such person as by our
lieutenant of that county shall be named to you by his hand
writing. And these our letters of privy seal subscribed by the
party so named by our lieutenant that shall receive the same,
confessing the time of the receipt thereof, shall be sufficient to
bind us, our heirs and successors, duly to repay the said sum to
you or to your assignes at the end of one year from the time of
your payment.
' This address is endorsed on the letter.
1587.] Benevolences. 137
Given under our privy seal at our palace of Westminster the
xx^li day of February iu the xxxi^t year of our reign.
Tho. Kerk.
1589-
Apud Watlesburge decimo nono die Aprilis anno regni domine
uostre Regine Elizabethe tricesimo primo.
Received of Thomas Lawley Esquire the day and year above-
said £25 unto her Majesty's use by me,
E. Leighton.
State Papers (Dom.) Eliz. ccxxii. p. 128.
3. Benevolences.
(a) Benevolence of the Clergy, 1587.
Most excellent and most gracious Sovereign Lady ; We, your
prelates and clergy of the province of Canterbury, now gathei'ed
together in a convocation or synod, calling to our minds . . . the
manifold and great benefits that every member of this realm . . .
doth daily receive, by the blessing of Almighty God, under your
Majesty's most happy and peaceable government . . . , and further,
seeing the infinite occasions that through the execrable malice
of the enemies of the Gospel of Christ do daily arise, whereby
your Highness is driven to many extraordinary and inestimable
expenses . . . , have with one joint consent and hearty good
will, over and above one subsidy of 6s. in the pound already
granted . . ., do give and grant unto your Highness' person only
a benevolence or contribution of 3s. of every whole pound, of
the clear yearly value of all ecclesiastical and spiritual promo-
tions within the said province of Canterbury, and of the lands,
benefices and appropriations and other possessions and revenues
to the same belonging . . . , the tenths thereof being deducted ; all
vicarages under the value of £10 . . . and all lands, revenues,
possessions, benefices and appropriations belonging to either of
the Universities of Cambridge or Oxford or unto any college in
the same [or belonging to certain other colleges, or assigned for
certain purposes] only excepted : the same contribution or
benevolence ... to be made .... at three several payments . . . :
the first thereof to be due the first of May next, and the second
to be due the first of May . . . 1588, and the third to be due
the first of May . . . 1589. . . . [dated 4 March, 1586-7.]
Stnjpe, Whityift, III. pp. T96-199; cf. id. I. p. 497.
138 Elizabeth. [i587.
(b) The Queen's acceptance of the Benevolence of the Clergy,
1587.
Regina, etc. omnibus ad quos, etc. salutera.
Cum praelati et clerus Cantuariensis provinciae, nostra
authoritate in synodo suo seu convocatione congregati . . . ultra et
praeter subsidium sex solidoruni singularum librarura annuarum,
etiam quandam benevolam contributionem trium solidorum pro
singulis libris annuls omnium et singulorum beneficiorum
suorura ecclesiasticorum et promotionum spiritualium quorum-
cumque ac omnium possessionum et reventionum elsdem annex-
arum seu quovismodo spectantium et pertinentium dederint
et concesserint, prout per quoddam scriptum seu instrumentum
publicum sigillo praedilecti et fidelis consiliarii nostri Johannis
archiepiscopi Cantuariensis munitum et nobis exhibitum, gerens
datam quarto die Martii anno domini [1586], plenius liquet et
apparet : Sciatis igitur quod nos, ad bumilem petitionem praela-
torum nostrorum et cleri antedictorum. praefatam benevolae
contributionis concessionem acceptamus, approbamus ac eandem
confirmamus, . . . ac insuper sciatis quod . . . licentiam, facultatem
et authoritatem praelatis nostris et clero praedictis in hac prae-
senti synodo congregatis decernendi, ordinandi et constituendi
quaecumque decreta, ordinationes et constitutiones synodales, ac
eadem sic per ipsos decreta ordinata et constituta execution!
mandandi et cum efFectu exequendi, quae sibi commoda seu
opportuua videbuntur, pro meliori vera et justa collectione et
solutione dictae benevolae contributionis . . . concedimus et
confirmamus per praesentes . . .
[Dated 9 March, 1586-7.]
Eymer, Fcedera, XVI. p. 5.
/ V.—y UDICA TURE.
1. Trial of the Duke op Norfolk, 1572.
Novi anni principium novum et triste spectaculum Londi-
nensibus in praetorio Westmonasteriensi exhibuit ; pegma enim
ligneum per medium praetorii a porta ad partem superiorem
erectum et ibi tribunal sedibus utrinque circumpositis, cujus
1572.] Trial of the Duke of Norfolk. 139
modi totis octodecim annis viderant nullum. Ad hoc die
Januarii xvi Thomas Howardus, Dux Norfolciae, inter Owenum
Hoptonum Arcis Londini Praefectum et Petrum Carew Equites
Auratos, funesta securi acie aversa praegestata, ducitur. In
tribunali sedit Georgius Talbottus, comes Salopiae, summus
Angliae Seneschallus ad ilium diem constitutus ; utrinque
proceres qui cognitoi^es dati, quos pares dicimus, Reginaldus
Greius Comes Cantii [and 24 other Peers].
Indicto silentio legitur diploma quo seneschallo authoritas
delata ; deinde bacillum album a Garterio Armorum Eege illi
in manus traditur, quod ipse paulo post primario atriensi
porrexit ; ille juxta adstans toto judicii tempore erectum tenuit.
Deinde comites et barones nominatim cientur, et ad suum
quisque nomen respondet. Silentio iterum indicto, Praefectus
Arcis jubetur praeceptum suum redhibere et Ducem pro tribu-
nali sistere. Mox sistitur; latera clauserunt hinc Praefectus
Arcis, illinc Petrus Carew ; proximus adstitit securiger, acie
a Duce aversa. Indicto iterum silentio, actuarius ad judicia
coronae Ducem ita affatus est : ' Thoma, Dux Norfolciae, uuper
de Kenninghall in Comitatu Norfolciae, manum attolle.' Cum
ille manum sustulisset, actuarius crimina de quibus in judicium
erat vocatus clara voce legit : scilicet, quod anno Reginae
Elizabethae undecimo et postea Dux perfide consilia agitaverit
earn de solio deturbandi et e medio tollendi, belloque concitato
et externis copiis inductis regnum invadendi [&c.j. His
perlectis actuarius ducem sciscitatur an horum criminum sit
reus 1 Ille obsecravit ut, si per legem liceret, patronus sibi ad
causam defendendam constitueretur. Catelinus primarius justi-
tiarius respondit, hoc per legem minime licere . . . ' Edoceri
cupio (induit dux) si singula ilia sint crimina laesae majes-
tatis . . .' Plura locuturum actuarius interrupit clamitans,
'Thoma, Dux Norfolciae, reusne es horum criminum?' Negavit
ille. Rogavit iterum actuarius, ' Quomodo vis judicari ] ' Re-
spondit : ' Deo et his paribus causam commendo meam . . .'
[The charges having been stated and argued in order :]
Cum jam advesperasceret, Seneschallus ducem rogavit si quid
amplius haberet quod pro se diceret 1 Respondit ille : ' In legum
aequitate fidem colloco.' Seneschallus jussit ut Praefectus
Arcis ducem seorsim submoveret, et silentio indicto ad Pares
140 Elizabeth. [1572.
conversus inquit : ' Audivistis quomodo Thomas Dux Norfolciae,
laesae majestatis po&tulatus, nee se reum agnoscens, Deo et
vobis causam submisit. Vestrum itaque e&t inter vos consi-
derare an reus sit peragendus, et ex conscientia et lionore
senteutiam ferre.' Simulque jussit ut se seorsim subducerent et
invicem consultarent. Brevi tempore iiiterjecto ad sua sedilia
revertuntur. Tunc Seneschallus ab infimo exorsus inquit:
' Domine Delaware, estne Thomas Dux Norfolciae reus criminum
laesae majestatis de quibus in judicium vocatur ? ' Ille assur-
gena manuque ad pectus apposita respondit : ' Reus.' Itidem
et singuli suo ordine rogati. Tunc tribunali Dux denuo sistitur,
quern Seneschallus ad hunc modum alloquitur : ' Thoma, Dux
Norfolciae, tu de diversis laesae majestatis criminibus in
judicium vocatus Deo et his paribus te submisisti, qui singuli te
reum pronuntiarunt. Ecquid habes cur judicium non pronun-
tietur ? ' Dux respondet : ' Fiat voluntas Dei, qui inter me et
falsos accusatores judicabit.' Silentibus jam omnibus, securis
acies adversa in ilium convertitur. Mox Barhamus nomine
Heginae Seneschallum ut judicium pronuntiaret postulat, quod
ille in hujusmodi verba lacrimis obortis ex formula pronun-
tiavit : ' Quandoquidem tu, Thoma Dux Norfolciae, criminum
laesae majestatis postulatus, te reum negaveris teque Parium
judicio, qui reum declararunt, submiseris, hie consessus judicat
te hinc in Arcem reducendum, inde crati impositum per mediam
urbem ad furcas trahendum, ibi susjiendendum, semimortuum
deponendum, eviscerandum, capiteque abscisso in quatuor partes
dissecandum. De capite et corporis partibus fiat quod Eeginae
visum fuerit : animae autem tuae misereatur Deus ' . . . Haec
quae praesens audivi exquisitius explicavi, cum in rebus magnis
et minima memorari posteritatis intersit.
Camden, Annales, I. pp. 208-216.
2. Teial of Mary, Queen of Scots, 1586.
(i) Commission for the trial.
Quid de Scotorum Eegina fieret, consiliarii non unum idemque
senserunt. Alii nihil asperius in eam statuendum censuerunt,
sed arctissime custodiendam, turn quod non criminis author
sed tantum conscia, tum quod valetudiuaria nee diu super-
1586.] Trial of Mary, Queen of Scots. 141
futura : alii, ut religioni consuleretur, protinus e media
tollendam et ex lege. Leicestrius veneno maluit, et theologum
submisit qui Walsinghamum hoc licere doceret . . . Variatum
iterum e qua lege in ilium ageietur, an ex ilia anni xxv Edwardi
Tertii (qua maiestatis laesae tenetur, qui Regi aut Reginae
perniciem struxei'it, bellum in eius regno movent, aut hostibus
adhaeserit), an ex ilia anni xxvii Elizabethae, quani dixi.
Yicit tandem eorum seiitentia qui ex hac postrema maluerunt,
utique ad banc rem nata ideoque accommodanda. Ex lege
igitur ilia superiori anno lata, ut inquireretur et sententia
pronuntiaretur in illos qui rebellionem concitaverint, regnum
invaserint, aut Eeginae vim inferre tentaverint, plures e Sanc-
tion Consilio et Angliae pi-oceribus diplomate delegati sunt . . .
quod formula forensi ita se habet:
' Elizabetha, Dei gratia Angliae, Franciae et Hiberniae
Regina, Fidei Defensoi", etc., reverendissimo in Cbristo Patri
loanni Cantuaiiensi Archiepiscopo, totius Angliae Primati et
Metropolitano et uni de privato Consilio nostro, ac praedilecto
et fideli nostro Thomas Bromley Militi, Cancellario Angliae,
alteri de privato Consilio nostro, ac etiam praedilecto et fideli
nostro Willielmo Domino Burghley, Domino Thesaurario
Angliae, alteri de privato Consilio nostro [and to 43 others]*
salutem etc' Deinde ne verbatim describam : post recapitula-
tionem legis (sive Actus ut nostri vocant) anno superiori
sancitae, haec sequuntur : ' Cum post finem sessionis Parla-
menti, scilicet post jDrimum diem Junii anno regni nostri
vicesimo septimo, diversae res compassatae et imaginatae fuerunt,
tendentes ad laesionem personae nostrae Regiae, tarn per Mariam
filiam et haeredem Jacobi Quinti nuper Scotorum Regis ac
communiter vocatam Eeginam Scotorum et Dotariam Franciae,
praetendentem titulum ad coronam huius regni Angliae, quam
per diversas alias personas cum scientia (Anglice, with the
privity) eiusdem Mai-iae, prout datum est nobis intelligi ;
cumque nos intendimus et determinamus quod Actus praedictus
in omnibus et per omnia foret rite et effectualiter executus
secundum tenorem eiusdem Actus, quodque omnes oflfensiones
^ The list comprises twenty-nine Lords, nine Knights and Esquires
(members of the Privy Council), the two Chief-Justices and the Chief
Baron, and two other judges.
142 Elizabeth. [isse.
supracUctae in Actu supradioto, ut praefertur, mentionatae et
circumstantiae earundem forent examinatae, et sententia sive
judicium superiiide detur secundum tenorem et efFectum Actus
illius : Vobis et maiori vestrum parti plenam et iiitegram
potestatem damus ad examinandum omnes et singulas res
compassatas et imaginatas, tendentes ad laesionem personae
nostrae regiae, tarn per praedictam Mariam quam per quas-
cunque alias personas cum scientia (Anglice, with the privity)
eiusdem Mariae, et omnes circumstantias earundem, ac omnes
alias ofFensiones supradictas quascunque in Actu supradioto ut
praefertur mentionatas : ac superinde secundum tenorem Actus
praedicti ad dandum sententiam sive judicium prout super
bonam probationem materia vobis apparebit. Et ideo vobis
mandamus, quod ad certos dies et loca quos vos vel maior pars
vestrum ad hoc provideritis, diligenter super praemissa in
forma praedicta procedatis, etc/ Camden, Annales, I. pp. 413-417.
(2) Sentence on Mary, Queen of Scots.
His peractis ^ Conventus in xxv diem Octobris ad Cameram
Stellatam Westmonasterii prorogatur . . . Die isto . . . sententia
in Scotorum Eeginam prolata est et delegatorum sigillis et
subscriptionibus firmata atque in actu relata hisce verbis : ' Ex
unanimi assensu et consensu suis sententiam et judicium ad
diem et locum ultimum recitatum pronuntiant, reddunt et
dicunt, quod post finem praedictae sessionis parlamenti in
commissione praedicta specificata, videlicet post praedictum
primum diem Junii anno vicesimo septimo supradicta et ante
datum eiusdem commissionis, diversae res compassatae et
imaginatae fuerunt infra hoc regnum Angliae jDer Anthonium
Babingtonum et alias, cum scientia (Anglice, with the privity)
dictae Mariae, praetendentis titulum ad coronam hujus regni
Angliae, tendentes ad laesionem, mortem et destructionem
regalis personae dictae Dominae nostras Reginae. Ac scilicet,
quod post praedictum primum diem Junii anno vicesimo septimo
supradicto et ante datum commissionis ])raedictae praedicta
Maria, praetendens titulum ad coronam hujus regni Angliae,
compassavit et imaginata fuit infra hoc regnum Angliae diversas
^ Namely, the inquiry before the Comniissioners at Fotheringay.
1584.] Grant of office to a Judge. 143
res tendentes ad laesionem, mortem et destructionem regalis
personae Dominae nostrae Reginae, contra formam statuti in
commissione praedicta specificati.' De hac sententia, quae ex
amanuensium fide tota pependit, nee illi coram in medium
producti ex lege prima anni xiii ipsius Elizabetliae, plurimus
variusque apud homines sernio, dum alii illos fide dignos alii
indignos existimarent. Camden, Annates, I. pp. 431-2.
3. Grant of Office to a Judge, 1584.
Patens Edwai'do Flowerdue pro officio tercii Baronis de
Scaccario.
Eegina omnibus ad quos, etc., salutem. Sciatis quod nos de
gratia nostra speciali ac ex vera scientia et mero motu nostris
dedimus et concessimus ac per praesentes damus et concedimus
dilecto et fideli nostro Edwardo Flowerdue, servient! ad legem,
officium tercii Baronis de Scaccario nostro, videlicet illud officium
quod Johannes Clenche, serviens ad legem, nuper habuit et
exercuit. Ac ipsum Edwardum Flowerdue tercium Baronem
de Scaccario nostro facimus, ordiiiamus et constituimus per
praesentes, habendum tenendum et occupandum officium prae-
dictum eidem Edwardo quamdiu se bene gesserit in eodem.
Ac eciam damus et concedimus praefato Edwardo Flowerdue
pro exercitio officii praedicti omnia et singula tot tanta et talia
eadem et consimilia vada feoda regarda denarios commoditates
profitua et emolumenta quot quanta quae et qualia praedictus
Johannes Clenche nuper habens et exercens officium illud
habuit percepit aut habere et percipere debuisset aut potuisset.
, . . Et ulterius, de uberiori gratia nostra ac in consideratione
quod Edwardus Flowerdue est serviens ad legem et ut idem
officium tali persona magis dignum sit ac ut praedictus Edwardus
Flowerdue iuxta estimatiouem quae de eo habetur melius sup-
portetur, dedimus et concessimus . . . eidem Edwardo Flowerdue
quandam annuitatem viginti marcarum legalis monetae Angliae
ultra omnia praedicta feoda et caetera praemissa ei superius
concessa per praesentes. . . . Et insuper concedimus praefato
Edwardo Flowerdue . . . quod idem Edwardus de tempore in
tempus quamdiu erit in officio praedicto habeat et utatur tali
habitu et togis, robis et omnibus aliis apparatibus suis qualiter
144 Elizabeth. [i584.
inferior Justiciarius de Banco nostro vel de Coramuni Banco
tamquam Justiciarius ibidem debet aut potest liabere et uti.
Ac quod apud omnes personas et in omni loco et tempore idem
E. F. reputabitur . . . et erit in eodem ordine, gradu, estima-
tione ... ad omnes iiitentiones prout aliquis inferior Justi-
ciarius de quolibet praedictorum Bancorum est sive esse debet
de tempore in tempus. . . [non obstante clauf^e].
Apud Westm. 23 Oct. a. r. 26.
Pat. Roll, (de diversis annis) Eliz. (No. 1606).
4. Justices of the Peace.
(a) The Commission before 1590.
Elizabetha, Dei gratia . . . etc. praedilecto et fideli Edmundo
Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo, etc., necnon praedilectis Thomae
Bromley militi domino Cancellario, Willielmo domino Burghley
Thesaurario [et aliis], salutem.
[I.] Sciatis quod assignavimus vos, conjunctim et divisim, ad
pacem nostram ac ad statuta et ordinationes apud Winton.,
Northampton et Westmonasterium pro conservatione pacis
ejusdem ; necnon ad ordinationes ibidem et apud Cantabrigiam
de venatoribus, operariis, artificibus, servitoribus, hostellariis
et aliis mendicautibus et vagabundis et aliis hominibus mendi-
cantibus qui se nominant travailing men ; et similiter ad
statuta et ordinationes apud Westmonasterium anno regni
Henrici Quarti nuper Eegis Angliae defuncti primo et secundo,
de liberatis signorura societatis militibus, armigeris seu valectis,
et aliis liberatis pannorum minime dandis, nee eis liberatis
aliqualiter utendis : ac ad quoddam aliud statutum Henrici
Quinti nuper Kegis, etc., de contrafactura, lotura, tonsura et
alia falsitura monetae terrae nostrae custodiendum : ac ad
omnia alia ordinationes et statuta pro bono pacis nostrae ac
quieto regimine et gubernatione populi nostri edita in comitatu
nostro Kanciae, tam infra libertates quam extra, juxta vim,
formam et effectum eorundem, custodienda et custodiri facienda;
et ad omnes illos quos contra formam ordinationum et statu-
torum praedictorum delinquentes inveneritis castigandos et
puniendos, prout secundum formam ordinationum et statutorum
praedictorum fuerit faciendum : et ad omues illos, qui aliquibus
1581.] Comrnission of the Peace. 145
de populo nostro de corporibus suls vel de incendio domorum
suarum ininas fecerint, ad sufficientem securitatem de pace et
bono gestu suo erga nos et populum nostrum inveniendum,
coram vobis venire, et, si hujusmodi securitatem invenire
recusaverint, tunc eos in prisonis nostris, quousque ejusmodi
securitatem invenerint, salvos custodiri faciendum.
[II.] Assignavimus etiam vos et quoscunque vestrum justici-
aries nostros ad inquirendum per sacramentum proborum et
legalium hominum de comitatu praedicto, per quos rei Veritas
melius sciri poterit, de omnimodis feloniis, transgressionibus,
forstallariis, regratariis et extortionibus in comitatu praedicto
per quoscunque et qualitercunque factis : et etiam de omnibus
illis, qui in conventiculis contra pacem nostram et in pertur-
bation em populi nostri seu vi armata ieriut vel equitaverint :
et etiam de hiis qui ad gentem nostram mayliemandam vel
interficielidam in insidiis jacuerint : et etiam de omnibus illis
qui capitiis et aliis liljeratis de unica secta, per confoedera-
tionem et pro manutenentia, contra proliibitionem ac formam
ordinationum et statutorum jDraedictorum inde ante liaec tem-
pora factorum, usi fuerint, et aliis hujusmodi liberatis impos-
terum utentibus : et etiam de hostellariis et aliis qui in abusu
mensurarum et ponderum ac in venditione victualium, ac etiam
de quibuscunque operariis, mendicantibus, artificibus, servi-
toribus, hostellariis et vagabundis, ac aliis qui contra formam •
ordinationum et statutorum praedictorum . . . de hujusmodi
venatoribus, operariis [&c.] inde factorum deliquerint, vel
attemtaverint in comitatu praedicto : ac etiam de quibuscunque
vicecomitibus, majoribus, ballivis, senescallis, constabulariis
ac custodibus gaolarum qui in executione officiorum suorum
erga hujusmodi artifices [&c.] juxta formam ordinationum et
statutoruna praedictorum faciendorum indeblte se habuerint,
aut tepidi, remissi vel negligentes fuerint : et de omnibus et
singulis suis articulis et circumstantiis ac aliis praemissis
contra formam ordinationum et statutorum praedictorum factis,
qualitercunque concernentibus plenius veritatem.
[III.] Et ad indictamenta quaecunque, tam coram vobis seu
aliquibus vestrum aut aliis nuper custodibus pacis et justiciariis
Domini Edwardi IV et Edw. V, nuper regum Angliae, ac Ric.
Ill nuper (de facto et non de jure) regis Angliae, necnon Domini
146 Elizabeth. [i58i.
HenricI nuper Regis Aiigliae VII, Henrici VIII, Edwardi VI et
Mariae, [&c.J, ad hujusmodi felonias, transgressiones et male-
facta in comitatu praedicto audienda et terrainanda assignatis
. . . facta et nondum torminata, quam coram vobis et sociis
vestris nunc custodibus pacis nostrae et justiciariis nostris
hujusmodi . . . facta et nondura terniinata, inspicienda, ac ad
procedendum inde ac processus versus omnes alios quos coram
vobis seu aliquibus vestrum indictari contigerit, quousque
capiantur, reddantur seu utlagentur, faciendos et continu-
andos.
[IV.] Assignavimus etiam vos, 79, 78, 77, &c., quatuor, tres,
et duos vestrum (quorum aliquem vestrum, vos, A. B. C. D. &c.,
unum esse volumus) justiciarios nostros ad felonias praedictas
ac ea omnia et singula quae per hujusmodi hostellarios et alios
in abusu raensurarum et ponderum ac in venditione victu-
alium, et omnia alia quae per hujusmodi operariios [&c.]
contra fonnam ordinationum et statutorura praedictorum seu
in enervatione eorundem in aliquo praesumpta vel attemptata
fuerint : ac extortiones et regratarias praedictas, tarn ad sectam
Bostram quam aliorum quorumcunque coram vobis pro nobis
aut pro seipsis conqueri aut prosequi volentium, audiendum et
terminandum : necnon ad transgressiones et forstallarias prae-
dictas ac omnia alia superius non declarata determinanda ad
sectam nostram tantum : et omnia alia, quae virtute ordina-
tionum et statutorum praedictorum per custodes pacis nostrae et
justiciarios nostros hujusmodi discuti et terminari debent, au-
dienda et terminanda : et ad eosdem operarios, artifices et
servitores per fines, redemptiones et amerciamenta ac alio modo
pro delictis suis, prout ante ordinationem de punitione coi'porali
hujusmodi operariis [&c.] pro delictis suis exhibenda factum
fieri con&uevit, necnon eosdem vicecomites, majores, ballivos,
seneschallos, constabularios ac custodes gaolarum, venatores,
vitellarios, hostellarios, mendicantes et vagabundos, super hiis
quae contra formam ordinationum et statutorum praedictorum
attemptata fuerint, castigandos et puniendos, secundum legem
et consuetudinem praedictas ac formam ordinationum et statu-
torum praedictorum.
[v.] Proviso semper quod, si casus difficultatis super deter-
minatione extortionum hujusmodi coram vobis venii'e contigerit,
1581.] Commission oj the Peace. 147
tunc ad judicium inde reddendum, nisi in praesentia unius
justiciariorum nostrorum de uuo vel de altero Banco aut justi-
ciariorum nostrorum ad assisas in comitatu praedicto capiendas
assignatorum, coram vobis minima procedatur,
[VI.] Et ideo voLis et cuilibet vestrum mandamus, quod
circa custodiam pacis, ordinationum et statutorum praedictorum
diligenter intendatis ; et ad certos dies et loca quos vos seu
aliqui vestrum ad hoc provideritis diligenter super praemissa
faciatis inquisitiones : et praemissa omnia et singula audiatis
et terminetis, ac ea faciatis et expleatis in forma praedicta,
facturi inde quod ad justitiam pertinet secundum legem et
consuetudinem regui nostri Angliae : salvis nobis amerciamentis
et aliis ad nos inde spectantibus.
[VII.] Mandavimus etiam ^ vicecomiti nostro Kanciae quod,
ad certos dies et loca quos vos seu aliqui vestrum ei scire
faciatis, venire faciat coram vobis seu aliquibus vestrum tot et
tales probos et legales homines de balliva sua, tarn infra liber-
tates quam extra, per quos rei Veritas in praemissis melius scire
poterit et iuquiri.
[VIII. ] Et vos, praefati Thomas Wotton, ad dies et loca
praedicta, brevia, praecepta, processus et indictamenta prae-
dicta coram vobis et dictis sociis vestris venire faciatis, et ea
inspiciatis et debito fine terminetis, sicut praedictum est.
In cujus rei testimonium, &c. Datum sexto die Augusti,
Anno regni nostri vicesimo primo.
Lamharde, Eirenarcha, ed. 1581, p. 39.
(b) The Commission after 1590.
Elizabetha Dei gratia &c,, predilecto et fideli Johanni Cantu-
ariensi Archiepiscopo [et aliis] salutem.
[I.] Sciatis quod assignavimus vos, conjunctim et divisim,
et quemlibet vestrum, justiciarios nostros ad pacem nostram
in comitatu nostro Kanciae conservandam, ac ad omnia ordina-
tiones et statuta pro bono pacis nostrae ac pro conservatione
eiusdem et pro quieto regimine et gubernatione populi nostri
edita in omnibus et singulis suis articulis in dicto comitatu
nostro, tam infra libertates quam extra, juxta vim, formam et
^ ' enim ' in text.
L 2
U^ Elizabeth. [i593.
eflfectum eorundem custodiendum et custodiri faciendum ; et ad
omnes illos quos [&<;. as before] . . . salvos custodiri faciendum.
[II.] Assignavimus etiam vos et quoslihet duos vel plures
vesirum, quorum aliquem vestrum, A. B. C. D. E. F. &c., unum
este volumus, justiciarios iiostros ad inquirendum per sacra-
mentum proborum et legalium homiuum de comitatu praedicto,
per quos rei Veritas melius sciri poterit, de omnibus et omni-
modis feloniis, vencficiis, incantationibus, sortilegiis, arte
magica, transgressionibus, forstallariis, regratariis, ingrossariis
et extortionibus quibuseunque, ac de omniljus aliis malefactis et
offensis de quibus justiciarii pacis nostrae legitime inquirere
possunt aut debent, per quoscunque et qualitercunque in comi-
tatu predicto factis: ac etiam de omnibus illis qui in comitatu
])raedicto in conventiculis contra pacem nostram in perturba-
tionera populi nostri seu vi armata ierunt vel equitaverunt : ac
etiam de omnibus hiis qui ibidem ad gentem nostram mayhe-
mandum vel interficiendum in insidiis jacuerunt : ac etiam de
hostellariis et aliis omnibus et singulis personis qui in abusu
ponderum vel mensurarum sive in venditione victualium contra
formam ordinationum et statutorum inde pro communi utilitate
regni nostri Angliae et poj)uli nostri eiusdem editorum delique-
runt vel attemptaverunt in comitatu praedicto : ac etiam de
quibuseunque vicecomitibus, ballivis, seneschaliis, constabu-
lariis, custodibus gaolarum et aliis officiariis qui in executione
officiorum suorum circa praemissa indebite se habuerunt aut
tepidi, remissi vel negligentes fuerunt : et de omnibus articulis
et circumstantiis et aliis rebus quibuseunque per quoscunque
et qualitercunque in comitatu praedicto factis, qualitercunque
praemissorum concernentibus plenius veritatem.
[III.] Et ad indictamenta quaecunque sic coram vobis seu
aliquibus vestrum capta, aut coram aliis nuper justiciariis pacis
in comitatu praedicto facta sive capta et nondum terminata in-
spiciendum, ac ad processus inde versus omnes sic indictatos,
quousque capiantur, reddant se vel utlagentur, faciendum et
continuandum : et ad omnia et singula felonias, veneficia,
incantationes, sortilegia, artes nmgicas, transgressiones, for-
fctallarias, regratarias, ingrossarias, extorsiones, conventicula,
indictamenta predicta caeteraque omnia praemissa, secundum
leges et statuta regni nostri Angliae, j)iout in buiusmodi casu
1593.] Commission of the Peace. 149
fieri consuevit aut debuit, audiendum et terminandum ; et ad
eosdem deliiiquentes iiro delictis suis per fines, redemptiones,
amerciameuta, forisfacturas ac alio modo, prout secundum legem
et consuetudinem regui uostri Angliae aut formam ordinationum
vel statutorum praedictorum fieri consuevit aut debuit, casti-
gandum et puniendum.
[IV.] Proviso semper quod, si casus difficultatis super deter-
rainatione aliquoi'um praemissorum coram vobis vel aliquibus
duobus vel jiluribus vestrum evenire contigerit, tunc ad judi-
cium f&c. as before] . . . minima procedatur.
[v.] Et ideo vobis [&c. as before] intendatis ; et ad certos dies
et loca quae vos vel aliqui bujusmodi duo vel plures vestrum, ut
predictum est, ad boc provideritis [&c. as before] . . . spectantibus.
[VI.] Mandamus etiam ^ tenore presentium vicecomiti nostro
Kanciae quod ad certos dies et loca, quae vos vel aliqui bujus-
modi duo vel plures vestrum ut praedictum est ei ut praedictum
est scire feceritis, venire faciat [&c. as before] . . . inquiri.
[VII.] Atsignavimus denique te prefatum Edwardum H.
militem custodem rotulorum pacis nostrae in dicto comitatu
nostro, ac propterea tu ad dies et loca praedicta [&c. as before]
. . . sicut praedictum est.
In cujus rei testimonium, &c. Datum vicesimo die Novem-
bris, anno regni nostri tricesimo quarto.
Crompton, L Office et authority de Justices de Peace, ed. 1593, p. 3.
(c) l^he Oath of a Justice of the Peace.
Ye sliall swear tbat, as justice of the peace in the county of
Kent, in all articles in tbe Queen's Commission to you directed,
ye sball do equal right to the poor and to the rich after your
cunning, wit and power, and after the laws and customs of tbe
realm and statutes thereof made ; and ye shall not be of counsel
with any quarrel hanging before you ; and that ye hold your
sessions after the form of statutes thereof made and the issues,
fines and amercements that shall happen to be made and all
forfeitures which shall fall before you ye shall cause to be
entered without any concealment or embezzling and truly send
* ' enim ' in text.
150 Elizabeth. [i58l.
them to the Queen's exchequer. Ye shall not let for gift or
other cause, but well and truly ye shall do your office of justice
of the peace in that behalf, and that you take nothing for your
office of justice of the peace to be done, but of the Queen, and
fees accustomed and costs limited by the statute ; and ye shall
not direct nor cause to be directed any warrant (by you to be
made) to the parties, but ye shall direct them to the bailiffs of
the said county or other the Queen's officers or ministers, or
other indifferent persons to do execution thereof. So help you
God and by the contents of this book.
Lamharde, EireiiarcTia, ed. 1581, p. 59.
5. Writ establishing the Court of Castle Chamber
IN Ireland.
Conimissio specialis pro Camera Stellata in Hibernia.
[I.] Elizabeth by the grace of God, &c. To our right trusty
and well-beloved the Lord Deputy Lieutenant Justice or
Justices of our realm of Ireland, Lord Chancellor or Keeper
of our great seal there now being or that hereafter shall be,
our Lord Treasurer of the same realm now being or [&c.],
the Chief Justice of our high bench in that our realm that
now is or [&c.], the Chief Justice of our common pleas in the
same realm that now is or [&c.], the Chief Baron of our
Exchequer there that now is or [&c.], and the Master of the
Kolls of our Chancery in the same realm that now is or [&c.],
greeting.
[II.] Forasmuch as by unlawful maintenance, embraceries,
confederacies, alliances, false bondings and taking of money by
the common jurors of that our realm, and also by untrue de-
meaning of sheriffs in making of panels and other untrue
returns, and by riot, routs, unlawful assemblies, forcible entries
and other like hateful disorders . . . and offences the policy and
good rule of that our realm is well near subverted, and for not
punishing of these inconveniences and by occasion of the pre-
misses nothing or little is or may be found by enquiry;
whereby the laws of that our realm in execution do and must
take little or no effect, to the increase of murders, perjuries and
■unsoreties of our subjects and loss of their lands and goods, to
i558-'84.] Court of Castle Chamber. '15X
the great hind'-ance of our service and to the displeasure of
Almighty God : for the better remedy whereof and to the
intent that such execrable and pernicious evils . . . shall not
escape without just and due correction and punishment, We
have thought meet to appoint that a particular court for the
hearing and determination of these detestable enormities . . .
shall be holden within our Castle at our City of Dublin in that
our realm of Ireland or in such other place where the ordinary
term shall be kept in that our realm, and that the same our
Court shall be called the Castle Chamber of our said realm of
Ireland.
[III.] And having good experiment of your truth, circum-
spection, integrity and knowledge and like good hope of such
as shall by our appointment succeed you in your office, We do
by these presents appoint and constitute you and such as shall
in your offices for the time execute, or any three of you, whereof
the said Lord Deputy Lieutenant Justice or Justices, Lord
Chancellor or Keeper of our said great seal or Lord Treasurer
to be one, our Commissioners and Justices of our said Court of
our Castle Chamber, together with such as by authority hereof
shall be to you associate in the times of the four ordinary
terms to be holden within that our realm from time to time,
two days every week of the said term (that is to say) Wednes-
day and Friday or any other days and times when you or any
two of you [quorum as before] shall think meet.
[IV.] And further. We do give full power to the Lord Deputy
Lieutenant Justice or Justices, Lord Chancellor and Keeper of
our said great seal and Lord Treasurer of our said realm and
to every of them for the time being, and which shall be present
at any time of sitting in the said Court, to call as associate
unto him or them such and so many of the lords spiritual and
temporal and such of our Privy Council or Justices of any
our Benches in our said realm of Ireland as they or any of them
. . . shall think meet to sit and join with him or them in the
hearing and determining of such causes and matters as in our
said Court shall be heard or determined.
[v.] And furthei-,We give unto you or any three of you [quorum
as before] together with such of the said Lords Councillors and
Justices, or such a competent number of them or any of them
T52 Elizabeth. [i558-'84.
as then shall be called and present to sit with you as aforesaid,
full poAver to receive, hear and determine all bills, complaints,
supplications and infoimations to be made . . . into our said
Court concerning any riots, routs, forcible entries, unlawful
assemblies, deceits, perjuries, forgeries, defaults, falsities, mis-
demeanours of sheriffs and other officers, contempts, disorders,
misdemeanours and offences committed . . . within our said realm
of Ireland, and [the] dependents and incidents upon the same,
in such like manner ... as such like offences are or heretofore
have been used to be received, heard, ordered, and determined
in the Court of Star Chamber within our realm of England.
[VI.] And [we] do also authorise and give full power
unto you or three of you [quorum as before] to award all
ordinary process as well upon all the said bills which be
exhibited for any the causes or offences aforesaid as also upon
all contempts to be comndtted in any of the said matters in like
manner as is used in our Court of Star Chamber within our
realm of England, the manner and form whereof we have
hereunto caused to be annexed ^
[VII.] And we do also give unto you or any three of you
[quorum as before] full power together with any such your
associates as afore is said or the more number of them to call and
command before you into the said Court by all means and ways
that you shall see to be expedient all the misdoers and offenders
that shall so be complained upon, and to proceed to the examina-
tion, discussion and determination of the said disorders [&c.]
in the same manner and order as in our said Court of the
Star Chamber here in England is used, and such as you shall
find to be in fault to punish by fines to our use, imprisonment
and otherwise after their demerits and according to your
discretions : and also to tax and sess to our use amercements,
fines and penalties for defaults to be made by non-appearance,
departures from the Court without licence or other defaults or
disobediences of the sheriffs whaisover to be committed Avithin
that Court or against the authority of the same, and for the
levying thereof to award process in like manner as is used for
the having or obtaining of any of our debts or duties within
our said realm of England, and the same to be to the use of us,
^ These instructions do not appear upon the roll.
i558-'84.] Court of Castle Chamber. 153
our heirs and successors, and to be accounted for in such manner
as other the perquisites or forfeitures of other our Courts within
our said realm of Ireland be or shall be accounted for.
[VIII.] And we do by authority of our royal prerogative grant
and declare that all judgments, taxations, decrees and orders
that shall be given, made and taken by you or any three of you
[quorum as before] together with any your associates so to be
assembled as aforesaid, shall be of the like force . . . and effect
against the party or parties as any the judgments [&c.] given
[&c.] in the Court of the Star Chamber within our realm of
England .are or ought to be.
[IX.] And also we do will and order that the Lord Deputy
Lieutenant Justice or Justices of our said realm of Irehind for
the time being shall from time to time at his or their will and
pleasure come . . . into our said Court of Castle Chamber and
during his or theii* presence in the same shall have in our
behalf the full power of chief head and principal justiciar and
determiner, and shall be the chief head and principal judge in
and of all such matters and causes as shall be in the s-ame
Court proponed, debated or controversed, any thing in these
our letters of commission to the contrary notwithstanding.
[X.] And therefore we do by tenor hereof will and command
you that you and every of you shall with all earnest diligence
two days in the week in the four term-times of the year as is
aforesaid give your attendance in and about the due and full
execution of the premisses in manner aforesaid.
[XL] And we do also give in strait charge and commandment
to all our faithful subjects to whom it shall appertain, of what
estate ... so ever they shall be ... , that they shall be obedient
. . . unto you and to such final orders and judgments as touch-
ing the premisses shall be from time to time had and taken by
you as shall appertain, as they will eschew our high indigna-
tion and will answer for the contrary at their extreme jaerils.
Witness our self at Westminster the fifteenth day of April
in the [blank] year of our reign.
Patent Roll {de diverds annis), Eliz. No. 1606,
154 Elizabeth. [i558-.
v.— MILITARY SYSTEM.
1. Commission of Lieutenakcy.
Elizabeth by the grace of God, [&c.] to our right trusty and
right well-beloved A. B . &c. greeting. Know ■ ye that, for
the great and singular trust and confidence we have in your
approved fidelity, wisdom and circumspection, we have assigned
. . . you to be our Lieutenant within our counties of N. and F.
and all the cities, towns and liberties within the precincts of the
said counties or of either of them ; and by these presents do
give power and authority unto you, that you from time to time
may levy, gather and call together all our subjects, of what
estate, degree or dignity they be, dwelling within our said
counties [&c.], meet and apt for the wars, and them to try,
array and put in readiness, and them also after their abilities,
degrees and faculties well and sufficiently to cause to be armed
and weaj)oned, and to take the musters of them from time to
time in places most meet for that purpose after your good
discretion : and also the same our subjects so arrayed, tried and
armed, as well men of arms as other horsemen, archers and
footmen of all kinds and degrees meet and apt for the wars, to
conduct and lead as well against all our enemies as also against
all lebels, traitors and other offenders and their adherents . . .
within our said counties [&c.] from time to time as often as
need shall require by your discretion : and with the said
enemies [&c.] to fight and them to invade, resist, repress and
subdue, slay, kill and put to execution of death by all ways
and means . . . : and to do all other things which shall be
requisite for the levying and government of our said subjects,
conservation of our person and peace, so by you in form afore-
said levied and to be led ' : and to execute against the said
enemies [&c.] as necessity shall require by your discretion the
law called the marshall [sic] law according to the law martial
[sic] : and of such offenders apprehended or being brought in
subjection, to save whom you shall think good to be saved, and
to . . . put to execution of death such and so many of them as
you shall think meet by your said discretion to be put to death,
' The order of words appears here to be transposed by mistake.
1558-.] Commission of Lieutenancy. 155
And further we do give unto you full power and authority
that in case any invasion of our enemies, insurrection, rebellion,
riots, routs or unlawful assemblies or any other like offences
shall happen to be moved in any place of this our realm out of
the limits of this our commission, that then and as often as
you shall perceive any such misdemeanour to arise, you, with
all the power you can make, shall with all diligence repair
to the place where any such invasion, unlawful assembly or
insurrection shall happen to be made, to subdue . . . the same
as well by battle or other kind of force as otherwise by the
laws of our realm and the law martial according to your dis-
cretion.
And further we give unto you full power for the execution
of this our commission to appoint in our said counties [&c.]
muster-masters, and one provost-marshall.to execute the martial
law in case of any invasion or rebellion in conducting any
numbers of men of war against the said invaders [&c].
Wherefore we will and command you, our said Lieutenant,
that with all diligence ye do execute the premisses with effect :
and forasmuch as it may be that there shall be just cause,
as now there is, for divers of you to be attendant upon our
person or to be otherwise employed in our service, whereby
this our service in our said counties of N. and F. committed to
your fidelity cannot be by you in person executed in such sort
as we have appointed the same ; therefore we give unto you
for your better aid and assistance and for the better perform-
ance and execution of the same our service, full power to
appoint ... by your writing under your hand and seal such
gentlemen resident within every of the said counties [&c.] as
[are] here underwritten and named to be your deputies in this
said service in our said several counties [&c.] : and by this our
present commission we give unto them so by you appointed . . .
full power in your absence to do in our said counties of N.
and F. [&c.] all things before by this our commission appointed
by you to be done. And our further pleasure ... is that your
said deputies, immediately after your letters of deputation to
them made as is aforesaid, take care to see every point of this
our commission as fully and perfectly executed in your absence
as you yourself ought to have done it if you had been present ;
15^ Elizabeth. [i558-.
and the tetter to enaLle them so to do, our pleasure is that
immediately after such deputation made as aforesaid you shall
deliver unto them a true transcript of this our commission
subscribed with your hand. And whatsoever you alone being
present or in your absence your said deputies shall do by
virtue of this our commission . . . touching the execution of
the pi-emisses shall be discharged in that behalf against us, our
heirs and successors.
And farther we will and command all our justices of peace
. . . and all other our officers, ministers and subjects meet and
apt for the wars within our said counties [&c.] to whom it shall
appertain, that they with their power and servants from time to
time shall be attendant . . . and at the commandment as well
of you as of your said deputies in the execution hereof, as they
tender our pleasure and will answer to the contrary at their
uttermost peril.
At Westminster the 15th day of June, in the twenty-seventh
year of our reign. Patent Roll (de diversis annu), Eliz. (No. 1606).
2. Commission of array.
Commissio specialis ad homines ad arma habiles arraiandos.
Eegina &e. predilectis et fidelibus suis A. B. C. D. et E.
salutem. Sciatis quod nos, de approbatis fidelitatibus et pro-
videntibus circumspectionibus vestris pluriirium confidentes,
assignavimus et constituimus vos commissionai-ios et deputatos
nostros, dantes et concedentes vobis et tribus et duobus vestrum
tenore praesentium plenam et absolutam potestatem et auctori-
tatem omnes et singulos homines ad arma ac homines habiles
ad arma ferendum, tam equites quam pedites et sagittarios et
sclopettarios, supra aetatem sexdecim anuorum ac infra aetatem
sexaginta, in civitate vel villa nostra de S., tam infra libertates
quam extra, arraiandum, inspiciendum et triandum, ac armari
et muniri faciendum, necnon assignandum equos, arma et cetera
bellica instrumenta consequentia habilitati et personae unius-
cuiusque, secundum foimam et effectum statutorum et ordina-
cionum ante haec tempora inde editorum provisorum : ac
omnibus illis tironibus hominibusque imbellibus et rei militaris
ignaris erudiendum, instruendum et exercendum ad usum
praedictorum equorum, armorum et bellicorum apparatuum
1558-.]' Commission of array. 157
secundum artem militarem, ac diligenter omnia et singula'
alia faciendum, gerendum et expediendum et fieri causandum
quae ad dilectum, monstrationem et inspectionem ac etiam
ad eruditionem, instructionem et exercitationem subditorum
nostrorum in re militari pro meliori servitio nostro et de-
fensioue huius regni nostri maxime consentaiiea et opportuna
fore putaveritis : ita quod iidem homines ad arma et homines
habiles ad arma ferendum, equites, pedites, sagittarii et sclo-
pettarii ac alii praedicti hon)ines defensibiles sic arraiati, in-
specti et muniti prompti sint et parati ad serviendum nobis
quotiens et quando necesse fuerit. Assignavimus insuper quos-
cunque tres aut duos vestrum ad omnes et singulos vestrum non
existentes dominos vel pares regni nostri aut consiliarios in
privato consllio nostro similiter mutuo et de invicem inspi-
ciendum, triandum et arraiandum ac in arniis et equis bellico
apparatui idoneis ordinandum et videndura ; ita quod omnes et
singuli vestrum in forma praedicta ut praedicitur inspecti,
arraiati et parati prompti sint et sitis et continue parati ad
nobis similiter ut praedictum est serviendum. Et ideo vobis
mandamus quod circa praeniissa diligenter inteiidatis ac ea
omnia et singula ad certos dies et loca de tempore in tempus
per vestras discretiones exequamini in forma praedicta. Damns
praeterea universis et singulis officiariis, ministiis et subditis
nostris quibuscunque tam infra libertates quam extra tenore
praesentium firmiter in mandatis quod vobis et cuilibet vestrum
in executione praemissorum intendentes, auxiliantes et obe-
dientes sint in omnibus diligenter. Et quod feceritis in prae-
missis, una cum nominibus, cognominibus ac numero tam
equitum, peditum, sagittariorum et sclopettariorum ac omnium
armorum et bellicorum instrumentorum ceterorumque bello
idoneorum per vos in forma praedicta inspectorum et arma-
torum, quam parochiarum et wardorum in quibus habitant, ac
de diveisitate armaturae et instrumentorum bellicorum quibus
unusquisque eorum armatus et paratus est, nos et consilium
nostrum circa personam nostram attendentem quam citissime
poteritis post datum praesentium in scriptis sub sigillis vestris
vel trium aut duorum vestrum manibus vestris subscriptis
debite certificetis. Damns ulterius firmiter in mandatis quod
pro meliore expeditione et executione praesentium per omnia
158 Elizabeth. [isss-.
et in singulis faciatis tarn secundum tenorem articulorum et
instructionum hiis praesentibus annexorum quam alioi-um
quorumcunque articulorum et instructionum quae per privatum
consilium nostrum cum opus fuerit vel per sex eorum in scriptis
manibus suis signatis aliquo tempore posthac vobis dirigentur.
Apud Westm. primo die Septembr. [No year.]
Fat. Boll, {de diversis annis) Eliz. (No. 1606).
3. Commission of muster.
M[emorandum] for men in Stafford iii cent., in Warwickshire
n cent., in Shropshire 11 cent, : xxvth of Seiitember, 1559.
To my Lord Stafford, to my Lord Robert and Sir Ambrose
Cave, to my Lord Williams.
Eight trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. And
whereas we have heretofore addressed our letters amongst
others for the musters to be taken within that our county of
[blank], by force whereof our subjects of the same be, as we
are informed, in a readiness to be employed as we shall
command, we let you wit that our pleasure is you shall forth-
with upon the receipt hereof cause to be levied, mustered and
chosen out of the whole body of our said county the number of
[blank] able men for the wars to serve on foot harnessed,
weajDoned and furnished as appertaineth, and the same to put
in order to appoint and allot to the leading of [blank] such
able gentlemen of inheritance of that our county, as for their
aptness and skill you shall think good to commit such a charge
unto, requiring you to use such diligence herein as your said
men with their captains may be in a readiness furnished as
before is limited with as much speed as may be, and so to
remain ready as upon one hour's warning hereafter to be given
unto them they may set forward towards our town of Berwick,
and in the mean time we will that you shall advertise us or
our council before the 20^^^ of October next at the furthest
what you shall have done herein and in what forwardness your
said men shall be, to the end that thereupon we may give
order for money to be sent unto you for their coats and conduct
accordingly.
And these our letters, &c.
Given &c. at our Honour of Hampton Court, &c.
State Papers {Domestic), Elizabeth, VI. 51.
1569.] Letter for light horse. 159
4. Circular letter for light horsemen.
Mr Secretary's warrant for stamping of certain letters.
Elizabeth, by the grace of God [&c.], To our trusty and
right well beloved Councillor, Sir William Cecil, Knight, our
principal Secretary, Forasmuch as we have by advice of our
council resolved and accorded to direct our letters under our
signet being in your custody to sundry knights, esquires and
others of ability in diverse shires of our realm, for to command
them to put in order and furniture certain horsemen ... as
more at large may appear by the tenour of our said letters, the
copy whereof . . . hereafter also followeth. We . . . have adjudged
necessary that . . . the number hereafter following shall be by
you . . . signed with our stamp . . . and afterward shall be
sealed with our signet, and so expedited for our more speedy
service . , .
The tenour of the letter.
Trusty and well beloved, we greet you well. Forasmuch as
we have necessary occasion to levy certain numbers of horsemen
to serve us in the north parts of our realm, as well for demi-
lances as for light horsemen, wherein we are to require, as
reason is, the aid of our good and faithful subjects in sundry
shires of our realm ; having well considered the ability of such
persons as do remain or have their possessions in that shire,
meet for that purpose, with assurance also of their good wills
to serve us and our crown, we have made choice of you, and
require and therewith also charge you that with all speed
possible you put in a readiness one able man and a horse or
able gelding fully furnished with armour, weapon and all other
things requisite to serve in the wars as a demi-lance or light
horseman ; and the same to send away in company with others
in that shire in such sort as, accounting the distance of the place
from whence he shall depart, he may be in good and serviceable
sort at our city of York before the first or fourth day of April
next ; and there shall be paid unto him money for his coat and
conduct. And we assure you that the horse and armour, after
service done, shall be safely returned unto you, if in service the
same perish not, or tiiat the fault be not in the horseman
himself. And for further instruction how you shall arm and
i6o Elizabeth. [i569.
apparel the said horseman, you sliall receive knowledge of our
lieutenant in that county, or of such others that have charge
there for that purpose, whose directions we require you to
follow.
Given under our signet at our Honour of Hampton Coui-t,
the loth day of iiarch, 1569. Burleigh Papers, I. p. 578.
6. Letter to a Bishop for light horsemen.
Eight reverend father in God, right trusty and well-beloved,
we greet you well. Whereas we think it convenient and
needful for our service and the defence of our realm to have a
certain number of horsemen put in a readiness, some to serve
as demi-lances and some as light horsemen, and therefore not
doubting but that you, as one specially careful of our service
and of this your native country, not only will show yourself
ready to advance this service as much as in you may lie and
willingly provide and have in a readiness such men, horse and
armour well appointed as we thought meet to be taxed and set
upon you, but also do your best endeavour to see that others of
the clergy within your diocese (whose names are contained in a
schedule hereinclosed signed by one of our principal secretaries)
shall do the like according as is rated upon everyone in the
said schedule ; Our will and pleasure is that you do not only for
your part provide and have in a readiness to be set forward
upon an hour's warning for our service as occasion shall require
two men with hor&e to serve as demi-lances and two men to
serve for light horsemen well and sufficiently appointed and
furnished of everything thereto appertaining, but also forthwith
in our name cause the parties mentioned in the said schedule to
do the like according to their rate : and, in case any of the
said parties be not resident in your diocese, then to signify the
same to them by your letters, taking order also that such as
cannot speedily provide themselves of men, horse and such
other furniture as is needful and as they are appointed and
rated to do, that then they do allow and contribute for every
demi-lance they are rated at .£30, and for every light horse
£20, which money our pleasure is ye shall cause to be delivered
to the hands of such commissioners as by letters fi'om our Privy
Council shall be named unto you, to be employed for our service
1590.] Clerical Contribution to the Army. 161
as shall be by them appointed. And if any of them shall so
forget themselves as they shall deny to furnish the premisses,
then we will you to certify [to] us or our Privy Council the
names of them, binding them nevertheless to appear before our
said Privy Council within [blank] days after their refusal,
willing and requiring you further, as you tender our service
and according to the good opinion we have conceived of you, to
use all diligence as well in the putting in a readiness of that
which we here require you as also in the procuring that the
rest mentioned in the said schedule may do the like, so as by
your and their slackness our service be not hindered, &c.
Warrani-hooh, Elizabeth and James, I. p. i.
6. Writ for view of arms to be provided by the clergy.
The Privy Council to the Archhishoj) of Canterbury.
After our very hearty commendations to your good Lordship.
Whereas there hath been order given by her ilajesty's direction
for several musters and views to be made of all the able men
with their armour and furniture, within the several counties of
the realm ... we have thought good to desire your Lordship,
with some diligence to write your letters to all the Bishops, to
send forthwith unto you the particular certificate of the horses
and foot ai-med and furnished by the clergy in their several
dioceses, whereof we pray your Lordship there may be no
default . . . When your Lordship shall have received the
certificates, we pray you to send them unto us. [Dated
Oct. 1 1, 1590.] Strype, WUtgifi, II. pp. 65, 66.
7. View of arms to be provided by the clergy.
The Archbishoj) of Canterbury to the Bishop of London.
After my hearty commendations [&c.] I have of late received,
as your Lordship knoweth, commandment from the Queen's
Highness and her honourable Privy Council to take order for
a certain view to be had and with speed certified of armour to
be provided by the clergy of the province of Canterbury ; these
are to will and require your Lordship to give order as well to
the clergy of your own diocese for the ready performance of the
M
] 62 Elizabeth, [1590.
same, as also to signify the said commandment to tlie residue of
my brethren, the other bishops of my province of Canterbury,
willing them , . . forthwith to accomplish her Highness' said
commandment . . . and the same view . . . speedily to certify
unto me . . . [dated Lambeth, May 6, 1569].
Whereas the lords of the Queen's Majesty's most honourable
Privy Council have given commandment for the provision of
armour and other furniture by the clergy of this realm,
according to such order and rates as was used in the time
of the late King Philip and Queen Mary, the several rates
and orders then used in that behalf are hereafter particularly
specified ; videlicet.
That every one of the clergy having lands or i)ossessions of
estate of inheritage of freehold shall i^rovide . . . armour, horses
and other furniture in such sort as every temporal man is
charged by reason of his lands and possessions by virtue of the
statute ^ made in the fourth and fifth years of the reigns of the
late King Philip and Queen Mary.
Item, That every one of the said clergy having benefits,
spiritual promotions or pensions, the clear value whereof . . .
do amount to the clear yearly value of £30 or upwards, shall
be bound to provide . . . armour and other provision requisite,
according to such proportion and rate, as the temporalty are
bound by the said statute by reason of their moveable goods.
Item, If any of the clergy of this realm have both temporal
lands and possessions and also spiritual promotions, he shall be
chai'ged with armour and other provision according to the
greatest rate of one of them, and not with both.
Strype, Parker, I. p. 542 ; Reg. Parher, I. p. 278 (a), in Carrhcell,
Doc. Annals, I. p. 312.
Observations ^ in rating the propo7i.ion of armour.
I. The bishop to rate himself among the temporalty for
lands.
II. To rate the dean and prebendaries, as the temporalty, for
goods from £30 upwards.
III. Item, to rate the whole diocese in like sort.
> 4& 5 P. &M. 2. §§ 2, 3. ■
2 Added by the Archbishop (J^try^^e, Parker, I. 542).
1599.]
Office of Admiral.
163
IV. Item, to account such as be resident witbiu the diocese
under the sum of £30 and yet having benefices or pensions
elsewhere to make up the same sum or uj)wards, to be rated
there among the supplies.
V. Item, to rate every incumbent where he is resident, and
every ordinary chaplain not resident in the diocese where b.e
serveth.
. . . This following was the way propounded of laying the
charge of armour on the clergy : —
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They that/ £200 were'j i
had an J £100 rated ( I
annual in- j £40 to C
come of ' £30 find }
The archbiirhop taxed himself at six horse with armour ; ten
light horse with their fui'uiture; forty corslets; forty Almaiu
rivets ; forty pikes ; thirty long bows ; thirty sheaves of
arrows ; thirty steel caps ; twenty black bills ; twenty harqi.e-
buts ; and twenty morions. Strype, Parker, I. p. 543 '.
8. Appointment of an Admiral, 1599.
Elizabeth, &c. to all to whom these, &c, greeting.
Forasmuch as there is just and necessary cause given us to set
forth to the seas in warlike manner our navy, compounded as
well of a certain number of our own ships as of others con-
venient for the defence of our realms and subjects against such
attempts or invasions as the preparations of our enemies do
give us reason to conceive that they intend to execute upon
some part of our dominions, we have been therefore moved to
bethink our self of some meet person, both for his degree and
experience in like marine services, to whom we might commit
so great a charge as the government of our said navy and
subjects of all sorts therein serving : and upon due considera-
' Cn. assessment of 1586, Str. An'x. V. p. 590; order for view of arms,
Sfr. Wliilij. II. p. 65. The table appears to be not quite correct.
164 Elizabeth. [1599.
tion of tlie fidelity, valour and sufficiency of our right trusty
and well-beloved Thomas Lord Howard, baron of Walden,
knight of our honourable order of the garter, we have made
choice of him to commit so great a trust and charge unto.
Know ye therefore that for those respects we do by these
presents name and depute the said Thomas to be our Lieutenant
and Captain General, leader, governor and admiral of our said
navy and forces therein serving which we have set to the seas
for the defence of our realms and people against the Spaniard
. . . Giving and granting to the said Thomas our full power and
authoi'ity over all our subjects of what state or condition soever
in our said navy and army retained and for this our service
committed to his charge, to arm, muster and command for the
defence of our realms and subjects and in resistance of the
Spaniards and their adherents or any others attempting the
invasion or annoyance of our dominions and subjects . . .
Giving also and granting to the said Thomas full power and
authority all . . . causes, quarrels, questions and matters what-
soever our said navy and subjects therein serving any way
concerning and [to] the office of Lord Lieutenant and Captain
General at the seas by any law or custom belonging, to hear,
examine, discuss and determine according to the law martial or
any discipline in our navies and armies at sea accustomed; and
laws, orders and statutes for the good government of our said
navy and army to make and establish, and the same to proclaim
and 25ut in execution, and all persons offending against the said
laws and ordinances to punish . . . imprison and (when he shall
think good) again to discharge and release; and all causes
criminal concerning life or member in our said navy happening
and all incidents and circumstances the same concerning, to
hear, examine and determine, and sentence and judgment there-
upon to give and jjronounce, or decrees to make and all other
things which for the good government of our said navy and
army and subjects therein serving may be to do, according to
his best discretion and such directions as from us or our Privy
Council in our name from time to time he shall receive.
And forasmuch as it may be needed for our service to take
up vessels and other materials for the use of our service, we do
hereby give full authority to the said Thomas to direct hia
1570.] Oath of a Privy Councillor. 165
warrants to our treasurer of our navy or to his dej)uty in his
absence to make payment of all such sums of money as he the
said Thomas shall find necessary to direct him to lay out, in
which case the warrant of our said admiral shall he to our said
treasurer or his deputy sufficient discharge upon the making of
his account . . .
And because it may happen by fight or otherwise that you,
our admiral of the forces committed to your charge, may
miscarry in this action, which God we hope will prevent, we
have thought good, providing for all events, to appoint and
authorize in such extremity our servant Sir Walter Ealeigh,
Captain of our guard and Lieutenant of our county of Cornwall,
to take the charge of our said fleet and forces, being now our
vice-admiral of the same, and in the meanwhile that he be
assistant unto you in all your entei'prises . . .
In witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be
made patents to continue during our pleasure.
[Dated August 10, 1599.]
Eymer, Fosdera, XVI. p. 380.
VL— MISCELLANEOUS.
1. The Oath of a Privy Councillor.
You shall swear to be a true and faithful councillor to the
Queen's Majesty as one of her Highness' Privy Council. You
shall not know or understand of any manner thing to be
attempted, done or spoken against her Majesty's person, honour,
crown or dignity royal, but you shall let and withstand the
same to the uttermost of your power, and either do or cause it
to be forthwith revealed either to her Majesty's self or to the rest
of her Privy Council. You shall keep secret all matters com-
mitted and revealed to you as her Majesty's councillor or that
shall be treated of secretly in council. And if any of the same
treaties or counsels shall touch any other of the councillors,
you shall not reveal the same to him, but shall keep the same
until such time as by the consent of her Majesty or of the rest
i66 Elizabeth. [1570.
of the council publication shall be made thereof. You shall not
let to give true, plain and faithful counsel at all times, without
respect either of the cause or of the person, laying apait all
i'avour, meed, affection and jiartiality. And you shall to your
uttermost bear faith and true allegiance to the Queen's Majesty,
her heirs and lawful successors, and shall assist and defend all
jurisdictions, preeminences and authorities granted to her
Majesty and annexed to her crown against all foreign princes,
persons, prelates or potentates, whether by act of parliament
or otherwise. And generally in all things you shall do as
a faithful and true councillor ought to do to her Majesty.
>So help you God and the holy contents of this book.
Memorandum that the 12*^^ day of December in the 13*^
year of the reign of our Sovereign Lady Elizabeth by the grace
of God [&c.], 1, George Earl of Shrewsbury, have most humbly
and obediently taken my corporal oath before God to observe
and perform all the contents above written in every respect.
In witness whereof I have subscribed my name and put my
seal. G. Sheewsbukt.
State Papers (Domestic), Eliz, Ixxziii. p. 33.
2. Duties of a Secretary ^
Titles of matters whereof I am charged to have regard as
a Councillor and Secretary.
First to inform myself of all treaties with foreign princes,
France, Burgundy, and the Low Countries, Spain, Scotland,
Denmark and the Hauses, &c.
To be acquainted with the particular actions and negotiations
of ambassadors to her Majesty and from her.
To inform myself of the power and form of proceeding at the
council of tlie Marches in Wales and the council in the North,
and to understand the manner of the Warden's government.
To be well informed of the state of Ireland, both the yearly
charge of the army and the extraordinary, the state of revenue
there, and the state of the Undertakers.
The charge of the Low Country wars, the charges of the
^ Probably by Dr John Herbert, appointed second Secretary about this
time (Note in Calendar of State Papers, p. 426).
1600,] Duties of a Secretary of State. 167
French King, the state of their debts to the Queen, what
the assurances are, and where they are.
To oversee the order of the Council-book and Muster-book
of the realm.
To have the custody of letters from foreign princes to the
Queen, and answers made to them.
To have care to the intelligences abroad.
Memorandum : That all causes to be treated on in council
and resolved are either only for her Majesty, or betwixt party
and party, or betwixt some party (either subject or stranger)
and the Queen's Majesty.
The first doth handle principally questions and consultations
of State, growing from foreign advei'tisements, or some extra-
ordinary accidents within the realm.
The second (between party and party) are very seldom heard
particularly, but rather ended by overruling an obstinate
2>erson, who is made to acknowledge his fault, or else the
parties are remitted to some court of justice or equity, or
I'ecommended by some letters to some justices in the country
to compound the differences either by consent of the parties or
by direction. Or if the cause be great, then to write letters
to some principal persons to have some circumstances better
understood and examined, concerning matter of fact, whereof
the council cannot be so well informed, when they have only
the suggestions of one party against another, upon which report
it often happeneth that quarrels and diflferences are taken up
by the council, when it appears clearly who is in default.
AVhen there is anything in question wherein the Queen is
a party, it is commonly either by the breach of peace or for
some other title.
If there be breach of peace the lords do either punish the
offender by commitment, or do refer the matter to be further
proceeded in the Star-Chamber, where great riots and con-
tempts are punished.
If it be matter of title, then the lords i-efer it to the
Queen's learned counsel, and recommend the same to the judges'
care.
If there be some suits to the Queen of poor men, then do
the lords endorse their petitions with their opinions and
i68 Elizabeth. [isee.
recommend the dispatcli to the Seci'etary, or for the poorer sort
to the Master of the Eequests.
[Dated] April 26, 1600.
State Papers {Domestic), Eliz. cclxxiv. p. n8.
3. Censorship of the Press.
(a) Star-Chamber Ordinance, 1566.
I. That no person should print ... or bring . . . into the
realm printed any book against the force and meaning of any
ordinance . . . contained in any the statutes or laws of this
realm or in any injunctions, letters patents or ordinances set
forth by the Queen's authority.
II. That whosoever should offend against the said ordinances
should forfeit all such books, and from thenceforth should never
exercise . . . the feat of printing ; and to sustain three months'
imprisonment.
III. That no person should sell, bind or sew any such books,
upon pain to forfeit all such books and for every book 20s.
IV. That all books so forfeited should be brought into
Stationers' Hall, . . . and all the books so to be forfeited to be
destroyed or made waste paper.
V. That it should be lawful for the wardens of the [Sta-
tioners'] Company ... to make search in all workhouses, shops
. . . and other places of printers, booksellers and such as bring
books into the realm . . . ; and all books to be found against the
said ordinances to seize and carry to the Hall to the uses above-
said and to bring the j)ersons offending before the Queen's
Commissioners in causes ecclesiastical.
VI. Every stationer, printer, bookseller . . . should . . . enter
into several recognizances of reasonable sums of money to her
Majesty . . . that he should truly observe all the said ordi-
nances . . .
Upon the consideration before expressed and upon the
motion of the Commissioners, we of the Privy Council have
agreed this to be observed and kept ... At the Star-Chamber
the 29th of June, 1566 . . .
N. Bacon, C. S. AVinchestee. K. Leicester. E. Clynton.
E. Eogees. F. Knollys. Ambr. Cave. W. Cecyl.
1586.] Censorship of the Press. 169
We^ underwrit think these ordinances meet and necessary to
be decreed and observed.
Matthue Cantuar. Ambr. Cave. Tho. Yale.
Edm. London. David Lewis. Rob. Weston.
T. Huycke.
Strype, Parker, I. pp. 442-3.
(b) Star-Chamher Ordinance, June, 1586.
The new decrees of the Star-Chamber for orders in printing,
vicesimo tertio die Junii, A. D. 1586.
Whereas sundry decrees and ordinances have upon grave
advice and deliberation been heretofore made and pubhshed for
the repressing of such great enormities and abuses as of late
more than in time past have been commonly used and practised
by divers contentious and disorderly persons professing the art
or mystery of printing or selling of books, and yet notwith-
standing the said abuses and enormities are nothing abated,
but, as it is found by experience, do rather daily more and more
increase to the wilful and manifest breach and contempt of the
said ordinances and decrees, to the great displeasure and offence
of the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by reason whereof sundry
intolerable offences, troubles and disturbances have happened as
well in the church as in the civil government of the state and
commonwealth of this I'ealm, which seem to have grown because
the pains and penalties contained and set down in the said
ordinances and decrees have been too light and small for the
correction and punishment of so grievous and heinous offences,
and so the offenders and malefactors in that behalf have not
been so severely punished as the quality of their offences have
deserved. Her Majesty therefore, of her most godly and gracious
disposition, being careful that speedy and due reformation be
had of the abuses and disorders aforesaid, and that all persons
using or professing the art, trade or mystery of printing or
selling of books should from henceforth be ruled and directed
therein by some certain and known rules and ordinances, which
should be inviolably kept and observed and the breakers
and offenders of the same to be severely and sharply punished
^ Members of the High Commiasion.
170 Elizabeth. [isse.
and corrected, hath straitly charged and required the most
leverend [father] in God the Arclibishop of Canterbury and the
right honourable the lords and others of lier Highness' Privy
Council to see her Majesty's said most gracious and godly
intention and purpose to be duly and effectually executed and
accomplished.
Whereupon the said most reverend father and the whole
presence sitting in this honourable court, this 23rd day of
June in the 28th year of her Majesty's reign, upon grave and
mature deliberation, have ordained and decreed that the or-
dinances, constitutions, rules and articles hereafter following
from henceforth by all persons be duly and inviolably kept and
observed, according to the tenor, purport and true intent and
meaning of the same, as they tender her Majesty's high dis-
pleasure and as they will answer to the contrary at their
uttermost peril : viz.
1. Imprimis, That every printer and other person . . . which
at this time present hath erected or set up or hereafter shall
erect . . . any printing-press, rowle or other irrstrument for
imprinting of books, charts, ballads, portraitures, paper called
damask paper, or any such matter or things whatsoever, shall
bring a trrre note or certificate of the said presses [&c.] already
erected, within ten days next coming after the publication
hereof, and of the said presses [&c.] hereafter to be erected . . .
within ten days next after the erecting thereof, unto the
Master and Wardens of the Company of Stationers of the City
of Loirdon for the time being, upon pain that every person
failing or offending herein shall have all the said presses [&c.]
utterly defaced and made unserviceable for impriirting for ever,
and shall also suffer twelve mouths' imprisonment without bail
or mainprise.
2. Item, That no printer of books nor any other person shall
set up any press . . . but only in the city of London or in the
suburbs thereof, and except one press in the University of
Cambridge and one other press in the University of Oxford,
and no more ; and that no person shall hereafter erect in any
secret or obscure corner or place any such press, but that the
same shall be in such open place or places in his or their house
or houses as the Wardens of the said Comjx'iny of the Stationers
1586.] Censorship of the Press. 171
. . . may from time to time have ready access unto, to search for
and view the same ; and that no printer or other person shall
at any time hereafter withstand or make resistance to any such
view or search, nor deny or keep secret any such press : upon
pain that every person offending in anything contrary to this
article shall have all the said presses defaced and made un-
serviceable for imprinting for ever, and shall also suffer im-
prisonment one whole year, and be disabled for ever to keep
any printing-press or to be master of any printing-house or to
have any benefit thereby other than only Avork as a journeyman
for wages.
3. Item, That no printer nor other person that hath set up
any press within six months last past shall hereafter use the
same, nor any person shall hereafter erect any press till the
excessive multitude of printers ... be abated ... or otherwise
brought to £0 small a number of masters or owners of printing
houses, being of ability and good behaviour, as the Archbishop
of Canterbury and Bishop of London for the time being shall
thereupon think it requisite and convenient, for the good
service of the realm, to have some more presses erected and
set up. And that when and as often as the said archbishop
and bishop shall so think it requisite and convenient and shall
signify the same to the said Master and AVardens of the said
Company of Stationers . . ., the said Master and Wardens shall
. . . call the assistants of the said company before them and shall
make choice of one or more ... of such persons being free
stationers as . . . shall be thought . . . meet to have the charge
of a press, and . . . shall present [them] before the High Com-
missioners in causes ecclesiastical, or six or more of them,
whereof the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of London
to be one, to admit every such person so chosen and presented
to be master of a press . . . upon pain [as in previous §].
Provided that this article shall not extend to the office of the
Queen's Majesty's printer for the service of the realm, but that
the said office and officer shall be at the pleasure and disposition
of her Majesty ...
4. Item, That no person shall imprint . . . any book ... or thing
whatsoever, except the same book ... or any other thing , . .
shall be allowed . . . according to the order appointed by the
172 Elizabeth, [isse.
Queen's Majesty's injunctions ', and be first seen and perused
by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of London for
the time being, or one of them (the Queen's Majesty's printer
. . . and such as are privileged to print the books of the common
law of this reahn, for such of the same books as shall be allowed
of by the two Chief Justices and Chief Baron for the time being
or any two of them, only excepted), nor shall imprint any book
against the form or meaning of any restraint or ordinance
contained in any statute or laws of this realm [&c,, as in
ordinance of 1566, §§ I, II, with increased penalties].
5. [As in § III, ordin. 1566, with increased penalties.]
6. That it shall be lawful for the Wardens of the said
company ... to make search . . . and all books contrary to the
intent of these ordinances to stay and take to her Majesty's use,
. . . and the parties offending ... to bring before the said High
Commissioners or some three or more of them, whereof the said
Archbishop of Canterbury or Bishop of London for the time
being to be one . . .
7. [The Wardens to destroy all plant belonging to offending
parties.]
8. Item, That for the avoiding of the excessive number of
printers within this realm, it shall not be lawful for any person
being free of the Company of Stationers, or using the trade or
mystery of printing, bookselling or bookbinding, to have at one
time any greater number of apprentices than shall be hereafter
expressed . . . Provided always that this ordinance shall not
extend to the Queen's Majesty's printer . . ., but that he have
liberty to keep aj)prentices to the number of six at any
one time.
9. Item, That none of the printers in Cambridge or Oxford
for the time being shall be suffered to have any more ap-
prentices than one at one time at the most : but it shall be
lawful for the said printers and their successors to use the help
of any journeyman being freeman of the city of London without
contradiction . . . state Papers {Domestic), Eliz. cxc. p. 48 ^
^ See below, Injunctions, § LI. (p. 188).
2 Partly printed by Strype, Whittjift, III. pp. 160-165.
1574.] Manumission of Villains. 173
4. Manumission of Villains.
De Commissione ad ynanumittendum.
Elizabeth, by the grace of God, &c., to our right trusty and
well-beloved counsellor Sir William Cecil . . . and to our trusty
and right well-beloved counsellor Sir Walter Mildmay . . .
greeting. Whereas divers and sundry of our poor faithfid and
loyal subjects, being born bond in blood and regardant to divers
and sundry our manors and possessions within our realm of
England, have made humble suit unto us to be manumised,
enfranchised and made free, with their children and sequels . . .
We therefore ... do name and appoint you two our commis-
sioners . . . and do commit . . . unto you full power to accept
... to be manumised, enfranchised and made free, such and so
many of our bondmen and bondwomen in blood with all their
children and sequels, their goods, lands, tenements and heredita-
ments as are now appertaining or regardant to any of our
manors, lands [&c.] within the said several counties of Cornwall,
Devon, Somerset and Gloucester, as to you shall seem meet,
compounding with them for such reasonable fines or sums of
money . . . for the manumission ... as you and they can agree :
. . . the tenour of which said manumissions [&c,] shall be in
such order and form as is here in these presents contained . . .
Elizabetha, Dei gratia [&c.], omnibus ad quos &c. salutera.
Cum ab initio omnes homines natura liberos creavit Deus, ut
postea jus gentium quosdam sub jugo servitutis constituit,
pium fore credimus et Deo acceptabile christianaeque charitati
consentaneum certos, in villenagio nobis, haeredibus et succes-
soribus nostris subjectos et servitute devinctos, liberos penitus
facere :
Sciatis igitur quod nos, pietate moti , . . A. B. C. D. &c., et
omnes et singulas sequelas tam procreatas et imposterum pro-
creandas et eorum quemlibet, manumisimus et liberos fecimus et
ab omni jugo servitutis et servilis conditionis liberamus et
exoneramus in perpetuum , . . Damns etiam et . . . concedimus
praefatis A. B. C. D. &c. messuagia, terras [&c.], necnon bona,
catalla et debita sua quaecumque . . . quibus seisiti seu posses-
sionati jam existunt . . . habendum, tenendum et gaudendum . . .
imperpetuum . . . absque compoto seu aliquo alio proinde nobis
1 74 Elizabeth. [1574.
. . . reddendo ratione servitutis seu servilis conditionis . . . salvis
taraen nobis . . . tani liberis tenu)is et haereditamentis nostris
custumiarum terrarum et tenementorum de quibus illi . . . seisiti
existunt . . . per copiam curiae, et servitiis, redditibus [&c.] pro
eisdem solvendis vel faciendis, quam redditibus et servitiis nobis
tanquam capitali dominae feodi reddendis pro aliquibus terris
[&c.] liberae tenurae de quibus ipsi seisiti existunt.
In cujus rei &c.
. . . And our further will and pleasure is . . . that every such
])ill or warrant ... so by you subscribed, shall be a sufficient
and immediate warrant to the said Lord Chancellor . . . for the
making and passing of every such manumission . . . under our
said Great Seal . . . paying only for all manner of fee at the
Great Seal 26 s. 8(/.
Witness ourself at Gorhambury [April 3, a.r. 16]. Per ipsam
Eeginam. Pat. Jioll {de diver is onnis) Eliz. No. 1606 : also in
Bymer, Faedera, XV. p. 731.
VIL— EXTRACTS FROM POLITICAL
WRITERS.
1. Staunfokd.
Praerogativa Regis.
Prerogative ' is as much as to say a privilege or preeminence
that any person hath before another, which, as it is tolerable in
some, so it is most to be permitted and allowed in a prince or
sovereign governor of a realm. For besides that, that he
is the most excellent and worthiest part or member of the
body of the commonwealth '^j so is he also, through his good
governance, the preserver, nourisher and defender of all the
people, being the rest of the same body . . . For which cause the
laws do attribute unto him all honour, dignity, prerogative and
* These are the opening sentences of a commentary on the so-called
statute entitled ' Praerogativa Regis,' said to have been published in the
seventeenth year of Edward II : on which, cf. Professor Mailland, E. H.
Review, vi. 367.
* The original has ' the comon body of the welth.'
1558-.] Prerogative; Star-Chamber, &c. 175
preeminence ; which prerogative doth not only extend to his
own person, but also to all other his possessions, goods and
chattels. As that his person shall be subject to no man's suit,
his possessions cannot be taken from him by any violence or
wrongful disseisin, his goods and chattels are under no tribute,
toll nor custom, nor otherwise distrainable ; with an infinite
number of prerogatives more, which were too tedious here to
recite . . . StaunfoirVs 'Exposition of the King's Prerofjalive,'' 1567.
2. Camden.
(a) The Star-Chamber.
Camera Stellata, sive potius Curia Consilii Regii . . . Haec, s-i
vetustatem spectemus, est antiquissima ; si dignitatem honoia-
tissima. Ex quo enim ad reges provocaverint subditi, con-
siliumque regium in&titutum fuerit, antiquitatem repetere posse
videtur. ludices vero sunt viri longe honoratissimi, et specta-
tissimi utique consiliarii regii. Hoc vero nomen Camerae
Stellatae accepit, ex quo in camera stellis ornata Westmonasterii
hoc consilium fuerit constitutum. Quod iam olim factum,
legitur enim in actis publicis Edwax'di tertii : Counfteil en la
Chamhre des Estoielles, pres de la receipte al Westminster. Verum
liuius authoritatem prudentissimus princeps Henricus Septimus
ita parlamentaria authoritate ailauxit et constabilivit ut nonnulli
primum instituisse falso opinentur. ludices hie sunt Dominus
Cancellarius Angliae, D. Thesaurarius Angliae, Praeses Concilii
Eegii, D. Custos privati sigilli, et omnes consiliarii status tarn
ecclesiastici quam laici, et ex Parliamenti baronibus illi, quos
princeps advocabit. . . . Britannia, ed. 1594, p. 112 '.
(b) Fifteenths and Tenths, and Subsidies.
. . . Ordines praeterea temporum felicitati congratulantes . . .
concesserunt ecclesiastici unum subsidium, laici itidem alterum
cum duabus quindenis et decimis. Quindena et decima (ut
in exterorum gratiam adnotem) taxatio certa est, olim imposita
singulis civitatibus, burgis, et oppidis non viritim sed
generatim pro ratione decimaequintae partis facultatum locu-
' The first edition of the Britannia was published in 1586,
176 Elizabeth. [1558-.
rum. Subsidium vocamus quod singulis capite censis viritim
pro ratione bonorum et agrorum imponitur. Verum nee baec,
nee ilia taxatio unquam imponitur nisi ex Ordinum consensu in
Parlamento. Annates, ed. I. 1615, p. 79, s. a. 1563.
(c) Martial Law.
Yesanam Petri Burclietti opiniouem, qui sibi persuaserat,
licitum esse evangelieae veritati adversantes oecidere, nescio an
memorem. Eo usque hominem huius opinionis error abrijDuerat,
ut Hawkinsum elassiarium ilium eelebrem in publieo pugione
aggressus sauciarit, ratus Hattonum esse gratia tune temporis
apud Eeginam florentem et ab intimis consiliis, quern novatoribus
adversari audiverat. Kegina ad hoc facinus sujora quam solebat
ita excanduit, ut in hominem ex jure militari sive eastrensi
protinus animadverti iusserit ; donee a prudentibus fuisset
edocta, ius illud non nisi in castris aut temporibus turbulentis
adhibendum ; domi autem et in pace ex processus iudiciaris
formula agendum. Annates, ed. I. 1615, p. 242, s.a. 1573.
3. Sir Thomas Smith.
(i) Classes of the j)eople.
Of the first part of Gentlemen of England, called nohilitas
major.
... In England no man is created a baron, except he may
dispend of yearly revenue one thousand pounds, or one thousand
marks at the least . . .
Of the second sort of Gentlemen, which may be called nohilitas
minor, and first of knights.
No man is a knight by succession, not the king or prince . . . :
knights therefore be not born but made ... In England whoso-
ever may dispend of his free lands forty pounds sterling of
yearly revenue . . . may be by the king compelled to take that
order and honour, or to pay a fine . . .
Of Esquires.
Esquires (which we commonly call squires) be all those which
bear arms (as we call tht-m) or armories . . . these be taken for
1558-.] Classes of the People. 177
no distinct order of the commonwealth, but do go with the
residue of the gentlemen . . .
Of Gentlemen.
Gentlemen be those whom their blood and race doth make
noble and known . . . Ordinarily the king doth only make
knights and create barons or higher degrees, for as for gentle-
men they be made good cheap in England. For whoso-
ever studieth the laws of the realm, who studieth in the
Universities, who professeth liberal sciences, and to be short,
who can live idly and without manual labour, and will bear the
port, charge and countenance of a gentleman, he shall be called
master, . . . and shall be taken for a gentleman . . .
Of Yeomen.
Those whom we call yeomen, next unto the nobility, knights
and squires, have the greatest charge and doings in the common-
wealth ... I call him a yeoman whom our laws do call legalem
hominem . . . which is a freeman born English, and may dispend
of his own free land in yearly revenue to the sum of 40s. sterling
. . . This sort of people confess themselves to be no gentlemen
. . . and yet they have a certain preeminence and moi'e estima-
tion than labourers and artificers, and commonly live wealthily.
. . . These be (for the most j^art) farmers unto gentlemen, . . .
and by these means do come to such wealth, that they are able
and daily do buy the lands of unthrifty gentlemen, and after
setting their sons to the school at the Universities, to the laws
of the realm, or otherwise leaving them sufficient lands whereon
they may live without labour, do make their said sons by those
means gentlemen . . .
Of the fourth sort of men which do not rule.
The fourth sort or class amongst us, is of those which the old
Romans called capite censi . . . day labourers, poor husbandmen,
yea merchants or retailers which have no free land, copyholders
and all artificers . . . These have no voice nor authoritj'' in our
commonwealth, and no account is made of them, but only to be
ruled. T7ie Commonwealth of England, ed. 1589, Bk. I. chaps. 17-24'.
' Strype (Life of Sir T. Smith, p. 84) says that this book was written
in 1565, and first published in 1581.
178 Elizabeth. [i558-.
Of Bondage and Bondmen.
After that we have spoken of all the sorts of freemen, accord-
ing to the diversity of their estates and persons, it resteth to
say somewhat of bondmen . . . The Eonians had two kinds of
bondmen, the one which were called servi ... all those kind of
bondmen be called in our law villains in gross . . . Another
they had . . . which they called adscriptitii glebae . . . and in our
law are called \dllains regardant ... Of the first I never knew
any in the realm in my time ; of the second, so few there be,
that it is not almost worth the speaking, but our law doth
acknowledge them in both those sorts.
The Commomoealth of England, ed. 1589, Bk. III. chap. 10.
(2) Parliament and the Sovereign.
Of the Parliament and the authority thereof.
The most high and absolute* power of the realm of England
consisteth in the Parliament . . . The Parliament abrogateth old
laws, maketh new, giveth order for things past and for things
hereafter to be followed, changeth rights and possessions of
private men, legitimateth bastards, establisheth forms of religion,
altereth weights and measures, giveth forms of succession to the
crown, defineth of doubtful rights whereof is no law already
made, appointeth subsidies, tallies, taxes and impositions, giveth
most free pardons and absolutions, restoreth in blood and name,
as the highest court, condemneth or absolveth them whom the
prince will jDut to that trial. And to be short, all that ever the
people of Pome might do, either in centuriatis comitiis or trihutis,
the same may be done by the Parliament of England, which
representeth and hath the power of the whole realm, both the
head and the body. For every Englishman is intended to be
there present, either in person or by procuration and attorney,
. . . from the prince (be he king or queen) to the lowest person
of England. And the consent of the parliament is taken to be
every man's consent . . .
The Speaker ... is commonly appointed by the king or queen,
though accepted by the assent of the House.
. . . No bill is an Act of Parliament . . . until both the houses
1558-.] King and Parliament : Justices. 179
severally have agreed -unto it . . . no, nor then neither. But
the last day of that parliament or session the prince cometh in
person in his parliament robes, and sitteth in his state . . . Then
one reads the titles of every Act which hath passed at that
session , . . : it is marked there what the prince doth allow, and
to such he saith, Le Roy or La Royne le veult ... To those which
the prince liketh not, Le Roy or La Royne s'achisera, and those
be accounted utterl}^ dashed and of none effect . . .
Of the monarch. King or Queen of England.
The Prince . . . hath absolutely in his power the authority of
war, and peace . • . His privy council be chosen also at the
prince's pleasure ... In war time and in the field the prince hath
also absolute power . . . : he may put to death or to other bodily
punishment whom he shall think so to deserve, without process
of law or form of judgment. This hath been sometime used
within the realm before any open war, in sudden insurrections
and rebellions, but that not allowed of wise and grave men . . .
This absolute power is called martial law . . . The prince useth
also absolute power in crying and decreeing the money of the
realm by his proclamation only . . . The jjiiuce useth also to
dispense with laws made, wliereas equity requireth a moderation
to be had, and with pains for transgression of laws . . . The
prince giveth all the chief and highest offices or magistracies of
the realm . . . All writs, executions and commandments be done
in the prince's name . . . The prince hath the wardship and first
marriage of all tliose that hold land of him in chief ... To be
short, the prince is the life, the head and the authority of all
things that be done in the realm of England.
The Commomvealth of England, ed. 1589, Bk. II. chaps. 2-4.
(3) Justices of the Peace.
. . . The Justices of the Peace be those in whom at this time
for the repressing of robbers, thieves and vagabonds, of privy
complots and conspiracies, of riots and violences and all other
misdemeanours in the commonwealth, the prince putteth his
special trust ; . . . and generally, as I have said, for the good
government of the shire, the prince putteth his confidence in
them. The Commonwealth of England, ed. 1589, Bk. II. chap. 21.
N 2
1 80 Elizabeth. [issa-.
(4) Trial hj Jury.
. . . But if tliey [sc. a Jury] do, as I have said, pronounce
not guilty upon the prisoner, against whom manifest witness is
brought in, the jjrisoner escapeth ; but the twelve [are] not only
rebuked by the judges, but also threatened of punishment ; and
many times commanded to appear in the Star-Chamber, or
before the Privy Council, for the matter . . .
The Commonwealth of England, ed. 1589, Bk. III. chap. i.
(5) The Court of Star-Chamber.
There is yet in England another Court, of the which that I
can understand there is not the like in any other country. In
the term-time . . . every week once at the least (which is com-
monly on Fridays and "Wednesdays, and the next day after that
the term doth end) the Lord Chancellor and the Lords and
other of the PriA'y Council, so manj' as will, and other Lords
and Barons which be not of the Privy Council, and be in the
town, and the judges of England, specially the two chief judges,
from nine of the clock till it be eleven, do sit in a jjlace which
is called the Star-Chamber, either because it is full of windows,
or because at the first all the roof thereof was decked with
images or stars gilded. There is plaints heard of riots . . .
And further, because such things are not commonly done by
the mean men, but such as be of power and force, and be not to
be dealt withal of every man, nor of mean gentlemen : if the
riot be found and certified to the king's council, or if otherwise
it be complained of, the party is sent for, and he must appear in
the Star-Chamber . . . : for that is the effect of the court, to
bridle such stout noblemen or gentlemen which would offer
wrong by force to any manner men, and cannot be content to
demand or defend the I'ight by order of law. This court began
long before, but took augmentation and authority at that time
that Cardinal Wolse}', Archbishop of York, was Chancellor of
England, who of some was thought to have first devised that
court, because that he, after some intermission by negligence of
time, augmented the authority of it . . .
The judges of this court are the Lord Chancellor, the Lord
Treasurer, all the King's Majesty's Council, the barons of tins
1558-.] The Star-Chamber. i8i
land . . . The punishment most usual is imprisonment, pillory
or fine, and many times both fine and imprisonment . . .
The Commonwealth of England, ed. 1589, Bk. III. chap. 4.
4. Lambard.
The Star-Chamber.
... I do afiirm that the King hath a supreme court of prero-
gative whereunto his subjects in such their necessities may
provoke, as to his own royal person, and wherein there is place
left for him to sit ; the which our kings in person have often-
times frequented, and were assisted with such men of nobility,
wisdom and learning as he shall choose . . . and these men thus
taken for their counsel and advice we do commonly call the
King's Council . . . So, howsoever many courts of ordinary
resort shall be established by him, yet if either they have not
authority to apply remedy for all wrongs and diseases, or that
power and authority which they have may not enjoy her free
course and passage, then must the King either exercise his
preeminent and royal jurisdiction, or else must the injuriously
afilicted be deprived of that help and remedy which both the
ordinance of God, the duty of a kingly judge, and the common
law of nature and reason do afford unto him . . . What is then
to be said 1 shall the King and his Council open a court for all
sorts of pleas that be determinable by the course of Common
Law 1 That were to set an anomy and to bring disorder, doubt
and incertainty over all. Shall no help at all be sought for at
the hands of the King, when it cannot be found in the Common
Law 1 that were to stop his ears at the cry of the oppressed,
and would draw wrath and punishment from heaven. Between
these two extremes . . . there lieth a mean that will both uphold
the majesty of the King, maintain the authority of the common
courts, and succour the distressed client in his greatest necessity
. . . And this mediocrity is maintainable, not only by reason of
the kingly and judicial office, whereof I have sometimes spoken,
but also by the meaning of many statutes and by the continual
practice of our own kings . . .
There remaineth a consideration of that statute made in the
third year of King Henry VTI . . . This statute, as some have
i82 Elizabeth. [i558-.
thought, was made for the restraint of that absolute authority
which beforetime was exercised by the King's Council : so as
after the making thereof they were to take knowledge of these
few causes only, and of none others. But I do rather expound
it by way of enlargement of their judicial authority ; for, inso-
much as there is not in it any words prohibitory touching the
former manner of proceeding, and the scope of this law is to
have those offenders convicted by other means than by order of
law as they were before, I gather thereby that the statute giveth
an additament of this sort, viz. that, whereas beforetime the
King and the Lords of this Council did not admit any complaint
but ^ such only as carried within it a reasonable surmise of
maintenance of their jurisdiction, . . . now by this statute, over
and besides that ancient authority, only three of the Council,
viz. the Chancellor, Treasurer, and Keeper of the Privy Seal,
using the assistance of some others thereunto appointed, were
enabled to hear and determine ordinarily of these eight offences,
and that without any manner of such suggestion or surmise at
all . . .
This is all that for this time and service I purposed to say
of this most noble and praiseworthy court, the beams of whose
bright justice, equal in beauty with Hesperus and Lucifer (as
Aristotle said in like case), do blaze and spread themselves as
far as the realm is long and wide, and by the influence of whose
supereminent authority all other courts of law and justice that
we have are both the more surely supported and the more
evenly kept and managed.
Lamharde's Archeion, ed. 1635, pp. 116-217^.
5. Cbompxon.
De Court de Starre Chamber, et matters auant le Counsell
le Roy.
Le Court de Starre Chamber est Hault Court, teuus auant
le E-oy et son Counsell et auters, et ceux que sout sues la, sont
appeles per suhpena dapperer deuant le Roy et son Counsell al
jour mention in le brief; a que jour si fait defaut, doncque sur
* 'for' in the original.
'^ This work is said to have been written in 1591.
1558.] Divine Service. 183
serement pris que la partie fait seruie oue [avec] le suhpena,
issera attachement ; sur que, si soit pris et appere, seira commis
al fleete per discretion del Court, et si nest pris sur lattache-
ment, ne luy render, doncque issera proclamation de rebellion,
oue commandement de luy prender, a aver son corps auant le
Koy et sou Counsell al jour mis in le brief . . .
Eoigne mesme est per intendment touts foits present icy in
person, car le sub])ena que issuit pur garner ascun dapperer in
cest Court est coram nobis et consilio nostra, et comment que la
Roigne ne vient la, uncore entant que sa Counsell est la, est
intend que Roigne mesme est la, et ceo que sa Counsell fait icy
est aiudge in ley come feazans la Roigne mesme, car ils parle
oue sa bouche et sont incorporate a luy.
Crompton, Courts de la Moigne (ed. 1594), pp. 29, 35.
VIII.— ECCLESIASTICAL DOCUMENTS
AND 'EXTRACTS.
I. Documents, &c.
1. The Queens Proclamation. 1558.
By tlie Queen.
The Queen's Majesty, understanding that there be certain
persons, having in times past the office of rriinistry in the
church, which now do purpose to use their former office in
preaching and ministry and partly have attempted the same,
. . . hath therefore, according to the authority committed to
her Highness, for the quiet governance of all manner of her
subjects, thought it necessary to chai'ge and command . . . all
manner of her subjects, as well those that be called to ministry
in the church as all others, that they do forbear to preach or
teach or to give audience to any manner of doctrine or preaching
other than to the Gospels and Epistles, commonly called the
Gospel and Epistle of the day, and to the Ten Commandments in
the vulgar tongue, without exposition or addition of any manner
sense or meaning to be applied or added ; or to use any other
manner of public prayer, rite or ceremony in the church, but
184 Elisabeth. [1559.
that which is ah'eady used and by law received, as the Common
Litany used at this present in her Majesty's own chapel, and
the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed in English; until consultation
may be had by parliament, by her Majesty and her three
estates of this realm, for the better conciliation and accord of
such causes as at this present are moved in matters and cere-
monies of religion. The true advancement whereof, to the due
honour of Almighty God, the increase of virtue and godliness,
with universal charity and concord amongst her people, her
Majesty most desireth and meaneth effectually, by all manner
of means possible, to procure and to restore to this her realm
. . . Given at her Highness' palace at Westminster, the 27th day
of December, the first year of her Majesty's reign.
God save the Queen.
Stripe's Annals, II. p. 391.
2. The Queen's Injunctions, 1559.
Injunctions given by the Queen's Majesty, as well to the clergj^
as to the laity of this realm.
The Queen's most royal Majestj", by the advice of her most
honourable council, intending the advancement of the true
honour of Almighty God, . . . doth minister unto her loving
subjects these godly injunctions hereafter following . . .
I. The first is. That all deans . . . and all other ecclesiastical
persons shall faithfully keep and observe, and, as far as in them
may lie, shall cause to be observed and kept of other, all and
singular laws and statutes made for the restoring to the crown
the ancient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical, and abolishing
of all foreign power repugnant to the same. And furthermore,
all ecclesiastical persons having cure of souls shall . . . declare
. . . four times in the year at least, in their sermons and other
collations, that all usurped and foreign power, having no
establishment by the law of God, is for most just causes taken
away and abolished . . . and that the Queen's power within her
realms and dominions is the highest power under God, to whom
all men within the same realms and dominions by God's law
owe most loyalty and obedience . . .
IL Besides this, to the intent that all superstition and
hypoci'isy crept into divers men's hearts may vanish away, they
1559.] The Queen's Injunctions. 185
shall not set foi'th or extol the dignity of any images, relics or
miracles . . .
III. Item, That they, the parsons above rehearsed, shall
preach in their churches and eveiy other cure they have one
sermon every month of the year at least, wherein they shall
purely and sincerely declare the word of God, . . . and that the
works devised by man's fantasies, besides Scripture, as wandering
of pilgrimages, setting up of candles, praying upon beads, or
such like superstition, have not only no promise of reward in
Scripture, but contrariwise great threateniugs and maledictions
of God . . .
V. Item, That every holy-day through the year, when they
have no sermon, they shall immediately after the gospel . . .
recite to their parishioners in the pulpit the Paternoster, the
Creed, and the Ten Commandments in English . . .
VI. Also, That they shall provide within three months next
after this visitation, at the charges of the parish, one book of
the whole Bible of the lai-gest volume in English ; and within
one twelve months next after the said visitation, the Paraphrases
of Erasmus also in English upon the Gospels, and the same set
up in some convenient place within the said church that they
have cure of, whereas the parishioners may most commodiously
resort unto the same and read the same, out of the time of
common service . . .
VIII. Also, That they shall admit no man to preach within
any their cures, but such as shall appear unto them sufficiently
licensed thereunto by the Queen's Majesty, or the Archbishop of
Canterbury or the Archbishop of York, in either their provinces,
or the bishop of the diocese, or by the Queen's Majesty's
visitors . . .
IX. Also, if they know any man within their parish or
elsewhere that is a letter of the word of God to be i-ead in
English ... or a fautor of any usurped or foreign power . . .
they shall detect and present the same to the Queen's Majesty,
or to her Council, or to the ordinary, or to the justice of the
peace next adjoining.
X. Also, That the parson, vicar or curate, and parishioners
of every parish within this realm shall in their churches and
chapels keep one book of register, wherein they shall write the
1 86 Elizabeth. [1559.
day and year of every wedding, christening and burial made
within their parisli, . . . and also therein shall write every
person's name that shall be so wedded, christened and buried . . .
XL Furthermore, because the goods of the cliurch are called
the goods of the poor, ... all parsons . . . and other beneficed
men . . . not being resident upon their benefices, which may
disper.d yearly twenty pounds or above, . . . shall distribute
hereafter among their poor parishioners or other inhabitants
there . . . the fortieth part of the fruits and revenues of the
said benefice . . .
XII. And, to the intent that learned men may hereafter
spring the more, . . . every parson ... or beneficed man . . .,
having yearly to dispend in benefices and other promotions of
the cliurch an hundred pounds, shall give £3 6s. 8(Z. in exhi-
bition to one scholar in either of the Universities ; and for as
many hundred pounds more as he may dispend, to so many
scholars more shall give like exhibition . . .
XVIII. Also, to avoid all contention and strife ... by reason
of fond courtesy and challenging of places in the procession,
and also that they may the more quietly hear that which is said
or sung to their edifying, they shall not from henceforth in any
parish church at any time use any procession about the church
or churchyard . . .
XX. Item, All the Queen's faithful and loving subjects shall
frOm henceforth celebrate and keep their holy-day according to
God's holy will and pleasure, that is, in hearing the word of
God read and taught, in private and public prayers [&c.] . . .
Yet notwithstanding, all parsons . . . shall teach and declare
unto their joai-ishioners that they may, with a safe and quiet
conscience, after their common prayer in the time of harvest
labour ixpon the holy and festival days, and save that thing
which God hath sent . . .
XXIII. Also, That they [parsons, &c.] shall take away . . .
and destroy all shrines, . . . paintings, and all other monuments
of feigned miracles, pilgrimages, idolatry and superstition, so
that there remain no memory of the same in walls, glass
windows, or elsewhere within their churches and houses.
XXIV. And that the churchwardens ... in every church
shall provide a comely and honest pulpit . . .
1559.] The Queen's Injunctions. 187
XXV. Also, they shall provide ... a strong chest, . . . having
three keys, whereof one shall remain in the custody of the
parson . . . and the other two in the custody of the church-
wardens or any other two honest men to be appointed by the
parish from year to year ; which chest they shall set and fasten
in a most convenient place, to the intent the parishioners
should put into it their oblations and alms for their poor neigh-
bours. And the parson . . . shall diligently from time to time,
and especially when men make their testaments, call upon . . .
tlieir neighbours to give, as they may well spare, to the said
chest . . . The which alms . . . the keepers of the keys shall at
all times convenient . . . distribute in the presence of the whole
parish or six of them, to be truly and faithfully delivered unto
their most needy neighbours ; and, if they be provided for, then
to the reparation of highways next adjoining, or to the poor
people of such parishes near, as shall be thought best to the
said keepers of the keys . . .
XXVI. Also, to avoid the detestable sin of simony . . ., all
such persons as buy any benefices . . . shall be deprived of such
benefices, and be made unable at any time after to receive any
other spiritual promotion . . .
XXVII. Also, because through lack of preachers in many
places . . . the people continue in ignorance and blindness, all
parsons . . . shall read in their churches every Sunday one of
the homilies set forth ... by the Queen's authority . . .
XXIX. Item, Although there be no prohibition by the word
of God, nor any example of the i)rimitive church, but that the
priests and ministers of the chui'ch may lawfully, for the
avoiding of fornication, have an honest and sober wife, and that
for the same purpose the same was by Act of Parliament in the
time of our dear brother King Edward the Sixth made lawful,
whereupon a great number of the clergy of this realm were then
married, and so continue ; yet because there hath grown offence
... it is thought therefore very necessary that no manner of
priest or deacon shall hereafter take to his wife any manner of
woman without the advice and allowance first had upon good
examination by the bishop of the same diocese and two justices
of the peace of the same shire, . . . nor without the good will of
the parents of the said woman, if she have any living, or two of
1 88 Elizabeth. [1559.
the next of her kinsfolks, or, for lack of knowledge of such, of
her master or mistress where she serveth . . . And for the
manner of marriages of any bishops, the same shall be allowed
and approved by the metropolitan of the province, and also by
such commissioners, as the Queen's Majesty thereunto shall
appoint. And if any master or dean or any head of any
college shall purpose to marry, the same shall not be allowed
but by such to whom the visitation of the same doth properly
belong . . .
XXX. Item, her Majesty being desirous to have the prelacy
and clergy of this realm to be had as well in outward reverence,
as otherwise regarded for the worthiness of their ministries . . .
willeth and commandeth that all archbishops and bishops, and
all that may be called or admitted to preaching or ministry of
the sacraments, or that be admitted into vocation ecclesiastical
or into any society of learning in either of the universities or
elsewhere, shall use and wear such seemly habits, garments, and
such square caps, as were most commonly and orderly received
in the latter year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth ; , . . ,
XLIII. Item, Forasmuch as in these latter days many have
been made priests being children and otherwise utterly unlearned,
so that they could read to say matins or mass, the ordinaries
shall not admit any such to any cui'e or spiritual function.
XLIV. Item, every parson, vicar and curate shall upon
every holy-day, and every second Sunday in the year, hear and
instruct all the youth of the parish ... in tlie Ten Command-
ments, the Articles of the Belief, and in the Lord's Prayer, and
diligently examine them, and teach the Catechism set forth in
the book of public prayer.
LI. Item, Because there is a great abuse in the printers of
books . . . the Queen's Majesty straitly chargeth and com-
mandeth that no manner of person shall print any manner of
book or paper . . . except the same be first licensed by lier
Majesty by express words in writing, or by six of her Privy
Council ; or be penised and licensed by the Archbishops of
Canterbury and York, the Bisliop of London, the Chancellors of
both Universities, the bishop being ordinary and the arch-
deacon also of the place where any such shall be printed, or by
two of them, whereof the ordinary of the place to be always
1559.] The Queen! s Injunctions. 189
one . . . Aud because many pamphlets, plays and ballads be
oftentimes printed . . . her Majesty likewise commandeth that
no manner of person shall enterprise to print any such, except
the same be to him licensed by such her Majesty's commissioners,
or three of them, as be appointed in the city of London to
hear and determine divers causes ecclesiastical, tending to the
execution of certain statutes made last parliament for uniformity
of order in religion . . . And touching all other books of matters
of religion or policy or governance, . . . her Majesty referreth
the prohibition or remission thereof to the order which her said
commissioners within the city of London shall take and notify
. . . Provided that these orders do not extend to any profane
authors and works in any language, that have been heretofore
commonly received or allowed in any of the Universities and
schools, but the same may be printed and used as by good
order they were accustomed.
An admonition to simple men, deceived by malicious.
The Queen's Majesty being informed that . . . sundry of her
native subjects, being called to ecclesiastical ministry of the
church, be . . . induced to find some scruple in the form of an
oath, which by an Act ^ of the last Pai'liament is prescribed to
be required of divers persons for the recognition of their
allegiance to her Majesty, . . . forbiddeth all manner her subjects
to give ear or credit to such . . . persons which . . . labour to
notify to her loving subjects how by words of the said oath it
may be collected that the Kings or Queens of this realm . . .
may challenge authority and power of ministry of divine service
in the church . . . For certainly her Majesty neither doth nor
ever will challenge any authority than that was challenged and
lately used by the noble kings of famous memory, King Henry
the Eighth and King Edward the Sixth, which is and was of
ancient time due to the impei'ial crown of this realm, that is,
under God to have the sovereignty and rule over all manner of
persons born within these her realms, ... so as no other foreign
power shall or ought to have any supei'iority over them . . .
» I Eliz. I. § 9.
190 Elizabeth. [i562.
For tables in the church.
Whereas her Majesty imderstandeth that in many parts of
the realm the altars of the churches be removed, and tables
placed for the administration of the Holy Sacrament, according
to the form of the law therefore provided, and in some other places
the altars be not yet removed ; ... in the order whereof, saving
for an uniformity, there seemeth no matter of great moment, so
that the sacrament be duly and reverently ministered ; yet for
observation of one uniformity through the whole realm ... it is
ordered . . . that the holy table in every church be decently
made, and set in the place where the altar stood, . . . and so to
stand, saving when the communion of the sacrament is to be
distributed ; at which time the same shall be so placed within
the chancel, as whereby tbe minister may be more conveniently
heard . . . and the communicants also more conveniently and in
more number communicate with the said minister. And after
the communion done, from time to time the same holy table to
be placed where it stood before.
Item, ... It is ordered . . . that the sacramental bread be
made plain, without any figure thereupon, of the same fineness
and fashion round, though somewhat bigger in compass and
thickness, as the usual bread and water heretofore named singing
cakes, which served for the use of the private mass.
The form of bidding the prayers to be used generally in this
uniform sort : Ye shall pray [&c.] . . .
Sparrow^s Articles, p. 65.
3. Summons to Convocation, 1562.
Elizabetha, Dei gratia [&c.], reverendissimo in Christo Patri
Matthaeo eadem gratia Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo, totius
Angliae Primati et Metropolitano, salutem. Quibusdam arduis
et urgentibus negotiis nos, securitatem et defensionem Ecclesiae
Anglicanae ac pacem et tranquillitatem, bonum publicum et
defensionem regni nostri et subditorum nostrorum ejusdem
concernentibus, vobis in fide et dilectione quibus nobis tene-
mini rogando mandamus, quatenus, praemissis debito intuitu
uttentis et ponderatis, universos et singulos episcopos vestrae
provinciae ac decanos ecclesiarum cathedralium, necnon archi-
diaconos, capitula et collegia totumque clerum cujuslibet
1563.] Convocation: Puritan demands. 191
dioceseos ejusdem provinciae jid comparendum coram vobis
in ecclesia cathedral! S. Pauli Lond., duodecimo die Januarii
ex future, debito more convocari faciatis, ad tractandum
consentiendum et concludendum super praemissis et aliis quae
sibi clarius exponentur tunc ibidem ex parte nostra. Et hoc,
sicut nos et statum regni nostri et honorem et utilitatem
ecclesiae praedictae diligitis, nullatenus omittatis. Teste me-
ipsa, apud Westmon. xi. die Novemb, anno regni nostri quarto.
Strype, Parker, I. p. 236.
4. Convocation of 1563 : Puritan demands.
I. ^ That all the Sundays in the year, and principal feasts of
Christ be kept holydays, and all other holydays to be abrogated.
II. That in all jiarish churches the minister in common
prayer tui*n his face toward the people, and there distinctly
read the divine service appointed, where all the people assembled
may hear and be edified.
III. That in ministering the sacrament of baptism the cere-
mony of making the cross in the child's forehead may be
omitted, as tending to superstition.
IV. That, forasmuch as divers communicants are not able to
kneel during the time of the communion for age, sickness and
sundry other infirmities, and some also superstitiously both
kneel and knock, that order of kneeling to be left to the
discretion of the ordinary within his jurisdiction.
V. That it be sufficient for the minister, in time of saying
divine service and ministering the sacraments, to use a surplice,
and that no minister say service or minister the sacraments but
in a comely garment or habit.
VI. That the use of organs be removed.
Strype, Annah, I. p. 502.
5. Parker's Advertisements, 1565.
Advertisements " partly for due order in the public adminis-
tration of common prayer and using the holy sacraments, and
' These articles were brought into the Lower House of Convocation,
Feb. 13, 1563, and rejected by a majority of one vote (58 for, 59 ag.\inst).
A previous petition, signed by thirty-three members of the Lower House,
had demanded among other things, the total abolition of surplices and
square caps {Strype, Annals, I. pp. 500-505).
^ An earlier draft of these advertisements, difiFering in some particulars,
is printed in Strype, Farker, HI. p. 84.
192 Elizabeth. [ises.
partly for the apparel of all persons ecclesiastical, by virtue of
the Queen's Majesty's letters commanding the same, the 25th
day of January in tlie seventh year of the reign of our sovereign
lady Elizabeth [&c.].
The Queen's Majesty, of her godly zeal calling to remem-
brance how necessary it is to the advancement of God's glory
and to the establishment of Christ's pure religion, for all her
loving subjects, especially the state ecclesiastical, to be knit
together in one perfect unity of doctrine and to be conjoined in
one uniformity of rites and manners, . . . hath by her letters ^
directed unto the Archbishop of Canterbury . . . straitly charged
that, with assistance and conference had with other bishops,
namely such as be in commission for causes ecclesiastical, some
orders might be taken whereby all diversities and varieties
among them of the clergy and the people . . . might be reformed
. . . Whereupon ... by consent of the persons before said, these
orders and rules ensuing have been thought meet and convenient
to be used and followed ; not yet prescribing these rules as laws
equivalent Avith the eternal word of God and as of necessity to
bind the consciences of her subjects in the natui'e of them
considered in themselves, or as they should add any efficacy or
more holiness to the virtue of public prayer and to the sacra-
ments, but as temporal orders mere ecclesiastical, without any
vain superstition, and as rules in some part of discipline
concerning decency, distinction and order for the time.
I. Articles for doctrine and preaching ^.
(i) First ^, That all they which shall be admitted to preach,
shall be diligently examined for their conformity in unity of
doctrine, established by public authority; and admonished to
use sobriety and discretion in teaching the people, namely in
matters of controversy . . .
(4) Item, That all licenses for preaching granted out hy the
archbishops and bishops within the province of Canterbury,
bearing date before i March, 1564, be void and of none effect;
^ See the letter alluded to in Parker Correspondence, p. 223.
^ Cf. Strype, Parier, I. pp. 313, 430 ; text in III. p. 84.
^ This is preceded in Strype's draft by three sections declaring the
validity of the thirty-nine articles and enacting that all clergymen shall
declare their adhesion to them.
1564.] Parkers Advertisements. 193
and nevertheless all such as shall be thought meet for the office
to be admitted again without difficulty or charge . . .
II. Articles for administration of prayers and sacraments.
(2) Item, That no parson or curate, not admitted by the
bishop of the diocese to preach, do expound in his own cure or
otherwhere any scripture or matter of doctrine, . . . but only
study to read gravely and aptly, without any glosing of the
same or any additions, the homilies already set out, or other
such necQssary doctrine as is or shall be prescribed for the
quiet instruction and edification of the people.
(4) In the ministration of the Holy Communion in cathedral
and collegiate churches the principal minister shall use a cope,
with gospeller and epistoler agreeably, and at all other prayers
to be said at the communion table to use no copes but surplices.
(5) That the dean and prebendaries wear a surplice with
a silk hood in the quire . . .
(6) Item, That every minister saying any public prayers or
ministering the sacraments or other rites of the church shall
wear a comely surplice with sleeves, to be provided at the
charges of the parish ; and that the parish provide a decent
table standing on a frame for the communion table.
(8) That all communicants do receive kneeling . . .
III. Articles for certain orders in ecclesiastical policy.
(i) First, Against the day of giving orders appointed, the
bishop shall . . . give notice that none shall sue for orders but
within their own diocese where they were born or had their
long time of dwelling, except such as shall be of degree in the
Universities.
(3) Item, That no curate or minister be permitted to serve
without examination and admission of the ordinary or his
deputy . . . and that the said ministers, if they remove from
one diocese to another, be by no means admitted to serve
without testimony of the diocesan from whence they come, in
writing, of their honesty and ability.
IV. Articles for outward apparel of persons ecclesiastical.
(4) Item, That .. . . all ecclesiastical persons or other having
o
194 Elizabeth. [i563.
any ecclesiastical living do wear the cap appointed by the
injunctions . . .
V. Protestations to he made . . . and subscribed bij them that shall
hereafter be admitted to any office . . . ecclesiastical.
(i) Imprimis, I shall not preach or publicly interpret, but
only read that which is appointed by public authority, without
special license of the bishop under his seal . . .
(4) I shall use sobriety in apparel, and specially in church
at common prayers, according to order appointed . . .
(7) I do also faithfully promise ... to observe . . . such order
and uniformity in all external policy, rites, and ceremonies of
the church, as by the laws, good usages and orders are already
well provided and established . . .
Agreed upon and subscribed by
Matthaeus Cantuaetensis \ ^
T, _ J Commissioners
JiiDMONDUS LONDONIENSIS f •
T, -n /in causes
KiCHAEDUS liLIENSIS i ti 1 • i.- i
^ T-, 1 Jlicclesiastical
JiiDMONDUS KOFFENSIS /
ROBERTUS WiNTONIENSIS
NiCHOLAUS LiNCOLNIENSIS
with others.
Sparrow's Articles, pp. 12C-128.
6. Beginnings of Puritanism, 1568.
Dum Thomas Hardingus, Nicholaus Sanderus, et T. P.^
theologi ex Anglia profugi strenue exercerent episcopalem
potestatem a Pontifice Romano nuper acceptam, absolvendi in
foro conscientiae omnes Anglos qui ad ecclesiae gremium rever-
tebantur et dispensandi etiam in causa irregularitatis, exceptis
ex homicidio voluntario proveuientibus seu deductis in forum
contentiosum, etiam ab irregularitate ratione haeresis, dummodo
absolvendi abstineant per triennium a ministerio altaris : ex
altera parte Colmanus, Buttonus, Hallinghamus, Bensonus et
alii, qui sinceriorem religionem ardenti cum zelo professi nihil nisi
quod e sacrarum literarum fontibus haustum probarunt, sive ex
purioris disciplinae novitatis aut dissensionis studio, receptam
' Is this a misprint for R. P. (Robert Parsons) ?
1570.] Excommunication of the Queen. 195
Eccleslae Anglif'anae disciplinam, liturgiam, episcoporum
vocationem in quaestionem palam vocarunt, imo damnarunt, ut
quae Eomanam religionem plus nimio sapiant, quacum aliquicl
habere commune impium esse declamitarunt ; omnia versantes,
ut ad Genevensis Ecclesiae amussim singula in Anglica Ecclesia
reformarentur. Hos quanquam Eegina in custodiam dari ius-
serit, incredibile tamen est, quantum consectanei, qui invidioso
Puritanorum nomine statim innotescei'e coeperunt, obstinata
quadam pervicacia, episcoporum vecordia, et occulto quorundaiu
nobilium ecclesiae opibus inhiantium favore, ubique succre-
verint. Camden, Annales, p. 132; s. a. 1568.
7. Bull of Excommunication, 1570.
Pius episcopus, servus servorum Dei, ad perpetuam rei
memoriam.
Regnans in excelsis, cui data est omnis in caelo et in terra
potestas, unam sanctam Catbolicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam,
extra quam nulla est salus, uni soli in terris, videlicet aposto-
lorum princii)i Petro, Petrique successori Romano Pontifici in
potestatis plenitudine tradidit gubernandam. . . . Quo quidem
in munere obeundo . . . nullum laborem intermittimus . . . ut ipsa
unitas et Catholica religio . . . integra conservetur. Sed im-
piorum numerus tantum potentia invaluit, ut nullus jam in
orbe locus sit relictus, quem illi pessimis doctrinis corrumpere
non tentarint, adnitente inter caeteros flagitiorum serva Eliza-
beth, praetensa Angliae regina, ad quam veluti ad asylum
omnium infestissimi profugium invenerunt. Haec eadem, regno
occupato, supremi ecclesiae capitis locum in omni Anglia
ejusque praecipuara auctoritatem atque jurisdictionem mon-
struose sibi usurpans, regnum ipsum, jam turn ad fidem catho-
licam et bonam frugem reductum, rursus in miserum exitiuni
revocavit. Usu namque verae r-eligionis, quam ab illius desert-
ore Henrico Octavo olim eversam clarae memoriae Maria, regina
legitima, huius sedis praesidio reparaverat, potenti nianu inhi-
bito, secutisque et amplexis haereticorum erroribus, regium
consilium ex Anglica nobilitate confectum diremit, illudque
obscuris hominibus haereticis complevit, Catholicae fidei cultores
oppressit, improbos concionatores atque impietatura administros
reposuit, . . . deque ecclesiae causis decernere ausa, praelatis,
0 2
196 Elizabeth. [1570.
clero et populo ne Romanam Ecclesiam agnoscerent . . . inter-
dixit, plerosque . . . Romani Pontificis auctoritatem atque
obedientiara abjurare seque solam in temporalibus et spirituali-
bus dominam agnoscere jurejurando coegit. . . . Tllius itaque
auctoritate suffulti, qui Nos in hoc supremo justitiae throno,
licet tanto operi impares, voluit collocare, de apostolicae potes-
tatis plenitudine declaramus praedictam Elizabeth, haereticam
et haereticorum fautricem, eique adhaerentes in praedictis
anathematis f^ententiam incurrisse, esi-eque a Cliristi corporis
unitate praecisos ; quiu etiam ipsam praetenso regni praedicti
jure, necnon omni et quocunque dominio, dignitate privilegio-
que privatum ; et item proceres, subditos et populos dicti regni
ac caeteros omnes qui illi quomodocunque juraverunt a jura-
mento hujusmodi ac omni prorsus dominii, fidelitatis et
obsequii debito perpetuo absolutes, prout nos illos praesentium
auctoritate absolvimus ; et privamus eandem Elizabeth praetenso
jure regni aliisque omnibus supradictis. Praecijiimusque et
interdicimus universis et singulis proceribus, subditis, populis
et aliis praedictis, ne illi ejusve monitis, mandatis et legibus
audeant obedire. Qui secus egerint, eos simili anathematis
sententia innodamus . . .
Datum Eoniae apud sanctum Petrum, anno incamationis
Dominicae millesimo quiugentesimo sexagesimo nono, quinto
Kal. Martii, pontificatus nostri anno quinto.
Bullarium Homanum, II. p. 325.
8. Puritan Doctrines.
(a) Cartivright's propositions, 1570.
I. ^ Archiepiscoporum et archidiaconorum nomina simul cum
muneribus et officiis suis sunt abolenda.
II. Legitimorum in ecclesia ministrorum nomina, qualia
sunt episcoporum et diacouorum, separata a suis muneribus in
verbo Dei descriptis, similiter sunt improbanda et ad institu-
tionem apostolicam revocanda ; ut episcopus in verbo et preci-
bus, diaconus in pauperibus curandis versetur.
III. Episcoporum cancellariis aut archidiaconorum officiali-
* Called by Strype 'a copy of the propositions Cartwright had set down
and subscribed with his own hand.'
1574.] Puritan Propositions. 197
bus regimen eccksiae non est comraittendura, sed ad idoneum
ministrum et presUyterium ejusdem ecclesiae deferendum.
IV. Non oportet ministerium esse vagum et liberum, sed
quisque debet certo cuidam gregi addici.
V. Nemo debet ministerium tanquam candidatus petere.
VI. Episcopi tantum authoritate et potestate ministri non
sunt creandi . . . sed ab ecclesia electio fieri debet.
Strype, Annals, II. p. 380; Whitgift, III. p. 17.
(b) Charles jyopositions, 1572.
Chark ^, in a clerum at St Mary's before the University [of
Cambridge], had roundly condemned the hierarchy of this
church . . . laying down these two bold positions :
Isti status episcopatus, archiepiscopatus, metropolitanatus,
patriarchatus, denique papatus, a Sataua in ecclesiam intro-
ducti sunt.
Inter ministi'os ecclesiae, non debet alius alio esse superior.
Strype, Annals, III. p. 278 ; cf. Strype, Parker, II. p. 194;
Whitgift, I. p. 88 ; III. p. 24.
(c) Bering s propositions, I573-
The lordship or civil government of bishops is utterly un-
lawful . . . And what, I beseech you, is the fruit it bringeth %
Is it not the same that springeth out of the pope's breast?
What else are officials, commissaries, chancellors, archdeacons,
&c., which rule and govern by the common laws ? Much
worse than the statutes of Omri, and all the ordinances of tlie
house of Achab : which uphold in the midst of us a court of
Faculties, a place much worse than Sodom and Gomorrah . . .
Letter from Edic. Bering, reader at St FauVs, to Lord Burleigh,
dated i Nov. 1573 ; Strype, Annals, III. pp. 401-41 1.
(d) Samjjson's projwsitions, 1574.
. . . My good lord, j^ro Christo Domino dominantium rogo,
obsecro, that there may be a consideration had of the state of
the Church of England. The doctrine of the gospel is and may
be purely preached in England : but the government of the
church appointed in the gospel yet wanteth here. The doctrine
1 William Chark, late fellow of Peterhouse, then chaplain to Lord
Cheynie.
198 Elizabeth. [1572.
is good, the government by him appointed is good. These are
to be conjoined, and not separated. It is a deformity to see the
Church of Christ, professing his gospel, to be governed by such
canons and customs as by which Antichrist did rule his syna-
gogue . . .
Letter from Sampson, formerly Dean of Christ Church, to Lord
Burleiffh, dated 8 March, 1573-4 ; iStrype, Annals, III. p. 373.
9. Exlracts from the First Admonition, 1572.
An Admonition to the Parliament. A view of popish
abuses yet remaining in the English Church for the which
godly ministers have refused to subscribe.
"Wliereas immediately after the last parliament^ . . . the
ministers of God's holy word and sacraments were called before
her Majesty's High Commissioners, and enforced to subscribe
unto the articles, if they would keep their places and livings,
and some for refusing to subscribe were . . . removed : May it
jdease therefore this honourable and high court of parliament
... to take a view of such causes as then did withhold and now
doth the foresaid ministers from subscribing and consenting
unto those foresaid articles, by way of purgation to discharge
themselves of all disobedience towards the Church of God and
their sovereign, and by way of most humble entreaty for the
removing away ... of all such coiTuptions and abuses as with-
held them . . . Albeit, right honourable and dearly beloved, we
have at all times borne with that which we could not amend in
tliis book ^, and have used the same in our ministry, so far forth
as we might . . . yet now being compelled by subscription to
allow the same and to confess it not to be against the word of
God in any point, but tolerable, we must needs say as followeth,
that this book is an unperfect book, culled and picked out of
that popish dunghill the portuise and mass-book full of all
abominations. For some and many of the contents therein
be such as are against the word of God . . .
Their pontifical, . . . whereby they consecrate bishops, make
ministers and deacons, is nothing else but a thing word for
word drawn out of the Pope's pontifical . . . ; and as the names
* The parliament of 1 5 7 1 . ^ The Book of Common Prayer.
1572.] The Admonition to Parliament. 199
of archbishops, archdeacons, lord bishops, chancellors, &c., are
drawn out of the Pope's sliop together with their offices, so the
government which they use ... is antichristian and devilish,
and contrary to the scriptures. And as safely may we, by the
warrant of God's word, subscribe to allow the dominion of the
Pope universally to rule over the word of God, as of an arch-
bishop over a whole province, or a lord bishoiJ over a diocese
which containeth many shires and parishes. For the dominion
that they exercise ... is unlawful and expressly forbidden by
the word of God . . .
What should we speak of the archbishop's court, sith all
men know it, and your wisdoms cannot but see what it is. As
all other courts are subject to this by the Pope's prerogative,
yea, and by statute of this realm yet unrepealed, so is it the
filthy quake-mire and poisoned plash of all the abominations
that do infect the whole realm . . . And as for the commissaries'
court, that is but a petty little stinking ditch that floweth out
of that former great puddle, robbing Christ's Church of lawful
pastors, of watchful seniors and elders, and careful deacons . . .
And as for the apjiarel, though we have been long borne in
hand, and yet are, that it is for order and decency commanded,
yet we know and have proved that there is neither ox'der nor
comeliness nor obedience in using it . . . Neither is the con-
troversy betwixt them and us (as they would bear the world in
hand) for a cap, a tippet or a surplice, but for great matters
concerning a true ministry and regiment of the church accord-
ing to the word ... If it might please her Majesty, by the
advice of your Right Honourable, in this High Court of Parlia-
ment, to hear us by writing or otherwise to defend ourselves,
then, such is the equity of our cause that we would trust to
find favour in her Majesty's sight ... If this cannot be obtained,
we will, by God's grace, address ourselves to defend his truth
by suffering and willingly lay our heads to the block, and this
shall be our peace, to have quiet consciences with our God,
whom Ave will abide for with all patience until he woi'k oui* full
deliverance. First Admonition'^ to Parliament, 1572.
' Composed by Cartwright, Sampson and others, and addressed to the
Parliament of 1572 : cf. below, p. 247.
20O Elizabeth. [1571.
10. The Canons 0/ 1571.
Liber quorundam canonum disciplinae ecclesiae Anglicanae
anuo 1 57 1. Sequuutur in lioc libello certi quidam articuli
... in quos plene consensum est ... in synodo inchoata
Londini in aede divi Pauli [3 Apr. 1571]-
I. De Episcopis.
, . . {3) Episcopus quisque ante calendas Septembris proximas
advocabit ad se omnes j)ublicos concionatores . . . et ab illis
repetet facultates concionandi . . . Deinde, delectu illorum pru-
denter facto, quoscunque ad illam tantam functionem . . . pares
invenerit, illis novas facultates ultro dabit ; ita tanien ut privis
subscribant articulis christianae religionis publice in synodo
approbatis, fidemque dent se velle tueri et defendere doctrinam
earn quae in illis coutinetui*, ut consentientissimam veritati
divini verbi . . .
(6) Episcoj)us nemini postliaec manum imponet nisi institute
in bonis Uteris vel in academia vel in inferiori aliqua schola, aut
qui satis commode intelligat Latinam liuguam et probe versatus
sit in sacris literis ; nee nisi attigerit aetatem illam legitimam
quae statutis et legibus est constituta ; nee nisi cujus vita et
innocentia gravium et piorum hominum et episcopo notorum
faerit testimonio commendata ; nee si in agricultura vel in vili
aliquo et sedeutario artificio fuerit educatus ; nee nisi qui
titulum (quem appellant) aliquem habeat, ut sit unde vitam
tueatur . . . ; nee nisi qui intra ipsius dioecesim sacro ministerio
functurus sit ; nee unquam nisi ubi sacrum aliquod ministerium
in eadem dioecesi vacare contigerit. Neminem autem pere-
grinum et ignotum vel ad sacerdotiorum proventus vel ad
ecclesiasticum ministerium recipiet nisi ab illo episcopo, e cujus
dioecesi discessit, literas commendatitias quas vooant dimissorias
secum afferat. . . .
(8) Episcopus neminem qui se otioso nomine lectorem vocet
et manus imj)ositionem uon acceperit, in ecclesiae ministerio
versari patietur.
II, Decani ecclesiarum cathedralium.
• • • (5) Quivis decanus in siugulos annos ad minimum quater
residebit in ecclesia sua cathedrali ibique singulis hujusmodi
vicibus mensem integrum . . . moram faciet.
1571.] Ecclesiastical Canons. 201
III. Archidiaconi.
... (2) Arcliidiaconus qui . . . habet potestatem visitandi
semel in singulos annos in persona sua visitabit provinciam
suam. . . .
(5) Archidiaconi in omnes delinquentes severe et graviter
ani inadvertent . . .
IV. Cancellarii, Commissarii, Officiates.
... (2) Nullus horum ... in cognitione causarum procedet
usque ad ferendam sententiam excommunicationis nisi tantum
in causis iustantiarum . , .
(3) Excommunicationis autem sententiam deferent tantum
ad episcopum, eamque aut ipse per se pronunciabit aut gravi
alicui viro in sacro ministerio constituto pronunciandam
committet. . . . Commutatiouem autem injunctae poeuitentiae
nee cancellarius faciet nee archidiaconus nee officialis nee com-
missarius. Ea potestas multis gravibus de causis episcopo soli
reservatur aut si quern alium episcojDus ad eum usum special i
raandato designabit. . . .
(7) Quivis minister ecclesiae, antequam in sacram functionem
ingrediatur, subscribet omnibus articulis de religione cbristiana
in quos consensum est in synodo . . .
V. Aeditui ecclesiarum et alii selecti viri.
VI. Concionatores.
Nemo nisi ab fepiscopo permissiis in parocbia sua jDublice
praedicabit nee posthaec audebit concionari extra miuisterium
et ecclesiam suam, nisi potestatem ita concionandi acceperit vel
a regia majestate per omnes regni partes vel ab arcbiepiscopo
per provinciam vel ab episcopo per dioecesim. . . . Et quoniam
articuli illi religionis Cbristianae . . . baud dubie collecti sunt
ex sacris libris Veteris et Novi Testamenti et cum caelesti
doctrina quae in illis continetur per omnia congruunt . . . ,
illorum articulorum auctoritatem et fidem . . . subscriptione
confirmabunt. Qui secus fecerit, et contraria doctrina populum
turbaverit, excommunicabitur.
Inter concionandum utentur veste quam maxime modesta et
gravi . . . qualisque in libello admonitionum descripta est.
202 Elizabeth. [1571.
VII. Residentia.
Absentia pastoris a dominico grege et secura ilia negligentia
quam videmus in multis et destitutio ministerii est res in se
foeda et odiosa in vulgus et peruiciosa ecclesiae Dei. Itaque
hortamur omnes pastores ecclesiaium in Domino Jesu, ut quam-
piimum redeant ad parochias quique suas . . . ibique versentur
in singulos annos non minus quam sexaginta dies.
VIII. Pluralitas.
Non licebit cuiquam, cujuscunque sit gradus, plusquam duo
ecclesiastica beneficia obtinere eodem tempore, neque cuiquam
omnino licebit obtinere duo beneficia si plusquam viginti sex
milliariis distincta sint.
IX. Ludimagistri.
X. Patroni et Proprietarii.
XI. Forma sententiae excommunicationis.
Strype, Parker, II. p. 60.
11. Exercises.
(a) Regulations in the diocese of Peterborough, 1571-
Prophecyings or exercises were much used now throughout
most of the dioceses \ . . These exercises were used in the
church of Northampton by the consent of the bishop of Peter-
borough, Scambler, the mayor of the town and his brethren,
and other the Queen's Majesty's justices of the peace within the
county and town . . .
. . . XII. There is on every other Saturday ... an exercise of
the ministers both in town and country, about the interpretation
of scriptures. The ministers speaking one after another do
handle some text, and the same openly among the people . . .
There is also a weekly assembly every Thursday after the
lecture, by the mayor and his brethren, assisted with the
preacher, minister and other gentlemen appointed to them by
the bishop, for the correction of discord made in the town : as
for notorious blasphemy, whoredom, drunkenness, railing against
* For Bishop Parkhurst's permission of exercises in the diocese of
Norwich, 1572, see Strype, Annals, IV". p. 494; for regulations in the
diocese of Lincoln, 1574, id. III. p. 472.
1571.] Exercises. 203
religion, or preachers thereof, scolds, ribalds or such like ;
which faults are each Thursday presented unto them in writing
by certain sworn men, appointed for that service in each parish.
So by tlie bishop's authority and the mayor's joined together,
being assisted with other gentlemen in the commission of the
peace, evil life is corrected . . .
XVII. There is hereafter to take place, order that all
ministers of the shire, once every quarter . . . repair to the
said town ; and there after a sermon . . . privately to confer
among themselves of their manners and lives. Among whom
if any be found in fault, for the first time exhortation is made
to him among all the brethren to amend ; and so likewise the
second ; and [the] third time, by complaint from all the brethren,
he is committed unto the bishop for his correction.
The order of the exercise of the ministers with a confession
of the faith.
I. Every one at his first allowance to be of this exercise
shall, by subscription of his own hand, declare his consent
in Christ's true religion with his brethren, and submit himself
to the discipline and orders of the same.
II. The names of every man that shall speak in this exercise
shall be written in a table . . .
III. The first speaker beginning and ending with prayer
ought to explain the text that he readeth. Then he may
confute any false or untrue expositions . . . But he shall not
digress . . .
IV. Whatsoever is left of the first speaker . . . they that
speak afterwards have liberty to touch, . . . without repeating
the selfsame words which have been spoken before or im-
pugning the same, excejit any have spoken contrary to the
scriptures.
V. The exei'cise shall begin immediately after nine of the
clock and not exceed the space of two hours . . . One of the
moderators shall always make the conclusion.
VI. After the exercise is ended, ... if any of the speakers in
this exercise be infamed or convinced of any grievous ciime, he
shall be there and then reprehended.
A^II. . . . And this consultation shall be ended with some
204 Elizabeth. [1574.
short exhortation, to move each one to go forward in his
office ...
Then followed a confession which these exercisers were to
subscribe . . .
The confession in the exercises.
We whose names are hereunder written . . . believe and hold,
that the word of God Avi-itten in the canonical scriptures of the
Old and New Testament . . . [is] and ought to be open, to be
read and known of all sorts of men, . . . and the authority
thereof far to exceed all authority, not of the Pope of Rome
only . . . but of the church also, of councils, fathers or others
whosoever, either men or angels. And therefore to this word
of God we humbly submit ourselves and all our doings ; willing
and ready to be judged . . . thereby, in all points of religion.
Strype, Annals, III. pp. 133-140, s. a. 1571 ; cf. id. III. p. 472.
(b) Supj^ression of Exercises, 1574.
Archbishop Parker to Mr Matchett.
. . . You shall go unto my lord your ordinary, and show him
that the Queen's Majesty willed me to suppress those vain
prophecyings. And thereupon I require him in her Majesty's
name immediately to discharge them of any further such
doing . . . Matthue Caxttjak.
[Dated 25 March, 1574.]
Parker Correspondence, p. 456.
(c) GrindaVs Regulations, 1576.
Orders^ for reformation of abuses about the learned exercises and
conferences among the 3finisters of the Church.
I. The said exercises are to be used only in such churches
and at such times as the bishop of the diocese shall . . .
appoint.
II. Item, That in all such exercises, either the archdeacon,
if he be a divine, or else some one other grave learned
graduate, at the least, to be appointed ... by the bishop . . .
and moderate the said exercises.
^ Cf. Letter of Grindal to the Queen, 20 Dec. 1576 (^Remains of Grinlcil,
P- 383).
1577.] Exercises. 205
III. Item, That a catalogue of names be made and allowed
of those that are judged meet to be speakers ... and such parts
of the Scripture entreated of as the bishop shall appoint.
IV. Item, That the rest of the ministers ... be assigned by
the moderators some tasks, for the increase of their learning, to
be comprised in writing or otherwise, concerning the exposition
of some part of Scripture . . .
V. Item, ante omnia, that no lay person be suffered to
speak publicly in those assemblies.
VI. Item, That no man speaking in the said exercises shall
be suffered to glance openly or covertly against any state or
any person public or private . . .
VII. Item, That no man be suffered in the said exercises to
make any invections against the laws, rites, policies and discipline
of the Church of England established by public authority . . .
VIII. Item, Forasmuch as divers ministers, deprived from
their livings and inhibited to preach for not obeying the public
orders and discipline of the Church of England, have intruded
themselves in sundry places to be speakers in the said exercises,
and . . . have in the said exercises usually made their invections
against the orders, rites and discipline of the church . . . , every
bishop is to take strict order in his diocese, that hereafter none
be suffered to be speakers in the said exercises, which remain
deprived or inhibited for the causes aforesaid, except they shall
have before conformed themselves to order, neither any other
which shall not . . . conform himself . . .
Edm. Cantuae.
Strype, Grindal, pp. 327, 328, s. a. 1576.
(d) The Queen's Letter against Projphesyings, i^'j'j-
Right reverend father in God, we greet you well. We hear
to our great grief, that in sundry parts of our realm there are
no small number of persons . . . which contrary to our laws . . .
do daily devise . . . and put in execution sundry new rites and
forms in the church, as well by their preaching, reading and
ministering the sacraments, as by procuring unlawful assemblies
of a great number of our people ... to be hearers of their
disputations and new devised opinions upon matters of divinity,
far and unmeet of unlearned people, which manner of invasions
3o6 Elizabeth. [i5«5.
they in some places call prophecying and in some other places
exerciees ; by which manner of assemblies great numbers of
our people . . . are brought to idleness and seduced and in a
manner schismatically divided amongst themselves . . . and
manifestly thereby encouraged to the violation of our laws . . .
"Wherefore, considering that it should be the duty of the
bishops ... to see these dishonours against the honour of God
and the quietness of the church reformed, ... we will and
straightly charge you that you also charge the same forthwith
to cease . . . ; but if any shall attempt or continue or renew the
same, we will you not only to commit them unto prison as
maintainers of disorders, but also to advertise us or our council
of the names and qualities of them and of their maintainers
and abettors, that thereupon for better example their punish-
ment may be more sharp for their reformation. And in these
things we charge you to be so careful and vigilant as by your
negligence ... we be not forced to make some example or
reformation of you according to your deserts.
[Dated 7 May, 1577.] Cardwell, Documentary Annals, I. p. 373.
(e) Regulations in the diocese 0/ Chester, 1585.
A copy of the authority given by the bishop [of Chester] to
the moderators of every several exercise . . . and other
orders to be observed in the exercises.
"William ^, by God his providence bishop of Chester, to ... ,
moderators for the exercises holden at Bury, within the diocese
of Chester, greeting. Whereas the right honourable the lords
of her Majesty's most honourable privy council . . . have recom-
mended unto us some further enlargements of the ecclesiastical
exercise, . . . since which time we do understand . . . that many
who ought to frequent the said exercise . . . either negligently
deal in the same or wilfully absent themselves, . . . these are
therefore to authorise you that you do . . . give notice to all the
clergy ... of the contents of these presents. And if you shall
find any . . . negligent . . . after warning given, ... to suspend
him so offending . . . And what you do concerning the premisses
we will you certify us . . .
' Will. Chaderton, Bishop of Chester, 1579-1586.
1585.] Exercises. 207
. . . All parsons, vicars, curates and schoolmasters within
every deanery are to appear personally on every exercise day,
there either to write or speak . . . All the people and the whole
congregation are to resoit to the sermon, but none to the other
exercise but clergymen only . . . and schoolmasters.
[Dated i Sept. 1585.]
Strype, Annals, IV. pp. 546-549.
(f) Harrison on FropTiesyings.
In many of our archdeaconries we have an exercise lately
begun, which for the most part is called a prophecy or conference,
and erected only for the examination or trial of the diligence of
the clergy in their study of holy scriptures. Howbeit such is the
thirsty desire of the people in these days to hear the word of
God, that they also have as it were with zealous violence in-
truded themselves among them (but as hearers only), to come by
more knowledge through their presence at the same . . . The
laity never speak of course, except some vain and busy head
will now and then intrude themselves with offence, but are only
hearers ; and as it is used in some places weekly, in others once
in fourteen days, in divers monthly and elsewhere twice a year,
so is it a notable spur unto all the ministers thereby to apply
their books, which otherwise (as in times pjist) would give
themselves to hawking, hunting, tables, cards, dice, tippling at
the alehouse, shooting of matches and other such like vanities.
. . . But alas ! as Satan the author of all mischief hath in
sundry manners heretofore hindered the erection and mainten-
ance of many good things, so in this he hath stirred up adver-
saries of late . . . who have . . . procured the suppression of
these conferences.
Harrisons DescHption 0/ England, Bk. II. ch. i.
(g) Bacon on Prophesyings.
Is there no means to nurse and train up ministers, ... to train
them, I say, not to preach . . , but to preach soundly and
handle the scriptures with wisdom and judgment ? I know
prophecying was subject to great abuses . . . But I say the only
reason of the abuse was because there were admitted to it a
2o8 Elizabeth. . [1573.
popular auditory, and it was contained with a private con-
ference of ministers.
Bacon, Discourse concerning Church Affairs, ed. 1641, pp. 32, 33.
12. The Qtieen's rroclamation against Nonconformists, 1573.
A proclamation against the despisers or breakers of the orders
prescribed iu the book of Common Prayer.
By the Queen.
The Queen's Majesty being right sorry to understand that the
order of Common Prayer set forth by the common consent of
the realm and by authority of parliament in the first year of
her reign, wherein is nothing contained but the scripture of
God and that which is consonant unto it, is now of late of some
men despised and spoken against, both by open preachings and
writings, and of some bold and vain curious men new and other
rites found out and frequented; whereupon contentions, sects
and disquietness doth arise among her people, and, for one
godly and uniform order, diversity of rites and ceremonies, dis-
putations and contentions, schism and divisions already risen,
and more like to ensue : the cause of which disorders her
Majesty doth plainly understand to be the negligence of the
bishops and other magistrates, who should cause the good laws
and acts of parliament made in this behalf to be better executed,
and not so dissembled and winked at as hitherto it may appear
that they have been :
For speedy remedy whereof her Majesty straitly chargeth
and commandeth all archbishops and bishops . . . and all other
wlio have any authority, to put in execution the Act for the
uniformity of Common Prayer and the administration of the
sacraments, made in the first year of her gracious reign, with
all diligence and severity . . .
And if any persons shall either in private houses or in public
places make assemblies and therein use other rites of Common
Prayer and administration of the sacraments than is prescribed
in the said book, or shall maintain in their houses any persons
being notoriously charged by books or preachings to attempt
the alteration of the said orders, they shall see such persons
punished with all severity, according to the laws of this realm,
by pains appointed in the said Act.
1576 ] • Queen's Message on Church Reform. 209
And because these matters do principally appertain to the
persons ecclesiastical and to the ecclesiastical government, her
Majesty giveth a most special and earnest charge to all arch-
bishops, bishops, archdeacons and deans, and all such as have
ordinary jurisdiction, in such cases to have a vigilant eye and
care to the observation of the orders and rites in the said
book prescribed, throughout their cures and diocese . . . upon
pain of her Majesty's high displeasure for their negligence and
deprivation from their dignities and benefices or other censures
to follow, according to their demerits.
[Dated 20 Oct. 1573.]
Cardwell, Documentary Annals, I. p. 348.
13. Queen's Message^ to Parliament, 1576.
[9 March, 1576.] Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, touch-
ing the petition for reformation of discipline in the Church,
doth bring word from the Lords '^ that their Lordships having
moved the Queen's Majesty touching the said jDetition, her
Highness answered their Lordships :
That her Majesty, before the Parliament, had a care to
provide in that case of her own disposition ; and at the beginning
of this session her Highness had conference therein with some
of the bishops and gave them in charge to see due reformation
thereof; wherein, as her Majesty thinketh, they will have
good consideration, according unto her pleasure and express
commandment in that behalf: and so did her Highness most
graciously and honourably declare further that, if the said
bishops should neglect or omit their duties therein, then her
Majesty, by her supreme power and authority over the Church
of England, would speedily see such good redress therein, as
might satisfy the expectation of her loving subjects, to their
good contentation.
Which message and report was most thankfully and joyfully
received by the whole House with one accord.
Commons' Journals, I. p. 112.
* This message was sent in consequence of the introduction into the
House of Commons of a bill for ecclesiastical reformation. Cp. above,
pp. 120-124.
2 i.e. of the Privy Council.
P
2TO Elizabeth. [i58i.
14. The Queens Message'^ to the House of Commons, 1581.
7 March, 1581 . . . Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer declareth,
that Mr Vicechamberlain, both Mr Secretaries and himself
have, according to their commission from tliis House, conferred
with some of my lords the bishops touching the griefs of this
House, for some things very requisite to be reformed in the
Church ; as, the great number of unleai'ned and unable ministers,
the great abuse of excommunication for every matter of small
moment, the commutation of penance, and the great multitude
of disjjensations and pluralities, and other things very hurtful
to the Church ; . . . declaring further that they found some of
the said lords the bishops, not only to confess and grant the
said defects and abuses, wishing due redress thereof . . . where-
^ipon they afterwards joined in humble suit together unto her
Highness and received her Majesty's most gracious answer :
That, as her Highness had, the last session of parliament, of
her own good consideration and before any petition or suit
thereof made by this House, committed the charge and con-
sideration thereof unto some of her Highness' clergy, who had
not performed the same according to her Highness' command-
ment, so now her Majesty would eftsoons commit the same unto
such others of them as with all convenient speed . . . should see
the same accomplished accordingly . . . For the which as they did
all render unto her ]\Iajesty most humble and dutiful thanks,
£0 did Mr Chancellor further declare that the only cause why
no due reformation hath been already had in the said petitions
was only by the negligence and slackness of some others, and
not of her Majesty nor of this House ; alleging withal that some
of the said bishops had yet done something in those matters, . . .
as in a more advised care of allowing and making of ministers,
but yet in effect little or nothing to the purpose . . .
Commons Journals, I. p. 131.
15. Whttgi ft aiid the Nonconformists, 1583.
Successit loannes Whitgiftus. Huic Eegina (quae ut in
2:)oliticis, ita et in legibus ecclesiasticis nihil unquam laxandum
^ In consequence of a resohition of the Commons that Mr Yice-
Chamberlain and others should 'move the Lords of the Clergy to continue
unto her Majesty the prosecution of the purposes of reformation.'
1583.] Whitgift*s Articles. 211
censuit) mandavit, ut ante omnia disciplinam ecclesiae Angli-
canae et uniformitatem in sacris authoi-itate parlamentaria
sancitam restauraret, quae praesulum conniventia, novatorum
pervicacia, et nobilium quoruudam potentia laxata iacuit ; dum
quidam e ministris regiam in ecclesiasticis authoritatem tecte
impugnarent, sacramentoruni administration em a verbi praedi-
catione seiuugerent, novos ritus pro arbitrio in privatis aedibus
usurparent, Liturgiam, Sacramentoruni administrationem con-
stitutam ut sacris Uteris in quibusdam contraria et episcoporum
vocationem omnino damnarent ; ideoque templa adire recusarent,
et plane schisma facerent, Pontificiis plaudentibus multosque
in suas partes pertrabentibus, quasi nulla esset in Ecclesia
Anglicaiia unitas . . . Nee hi solum domi Ecclesiam exagitarunt,
sed etiam foras qui ex bis prodierunt, Eobertus Bi^ownus
Cantabrigiensis in theologia tyro, a quo novi sectarii Brownistae
dicti, et Richardus Harrisonus e trivio paedagogus. Hi enim
ex suo spiritu de re religionis iudicare ausi, libris bac tempestate
in Zelandia editis, et per Angliam dispersis, Ecclesiam Angli-
canam quasi nullam damnarunt, multoque novi scbismatis
laqueis irretierunt ; quamvis eorum libri regia authoritate
prohibit! et ab eruditis nervose confutati uuusque et alter e
sectariis ad S. Edmundi, extremo supplicio affecti.
Camden, Aunales, L p. 346, s. a. 1583.
16. Whitgift's articles touching jyTeachers and other orders for
the Church ^, 1583.
I. That the laws late made against the recusants be put in
more due execution, considering the benefit that hath grown
unto the Church thereby, where they have been executed, and
the encouragement which they and others do receive by remiss
executing thereof.
II. That all preaching, reading, catechising and other such
like exercises in private places and families whereunto others
do resort, being not of the same family, be utterly inhibited . . .
1 Strype, TF^j^^i/";^, I. 228, says of these : ' In the month of Sepf^. [1583]
divers good articles were drawn up and agreed upon by himself [the arch-
bishop] and the rest of the bishops of his province, and signed by them.
"Which the Queen also allowed of, and gave her royal assent unto, to give
them the greater authority.'
P 2
21 a Elizabeth. [isss.
III. That none be permitted to preach, read or catechise in
the church or elsewhere unless he do four times in the year at
least say service and minister the sacraments according to the
Book of Common Prayer.
IV. That all preachers and others in ecclesiastical orders do
at all times wear and use such kind of apparel as is prescribed
unto them by the book of Advertisements and her Majesty's
Injunctions anno primo.
V. That none be permitted to preach or interpret the Scrip-
tures unless he be a priest or deacon at the least, admitted
thereunto according to the laws of this realm.
VI. That none be permitted to preach, read, catechise,
minister the sacraments or to execute any other ecclesiastical
function . . . unless he first consent and subscribe to these
articles following . . . videlicet :
{a) That her Majesty, under God, hath and ought to have
the sovereignty and rule over all manner of persons born
witliin her realms, dominions and countries, of what estate
ecclesiastical or temporal soever they be ; and that no foreign
power, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any
jurisdiction . . . authority ecclesiastical or temporal ^ within
her Majesty's said realms, dominions and countries.
(6) That the Book of Common Prayer and of ordering bishops,
priests and deacons containeth nothing in it contrary to the
word of God, and that the same may lawfully be used, and that
he himself will use the form of the said book prescribed in
public prayer and administration of the sacraments, and none
other.
(c) That he alloweth the book of Articles of Religion, agreed
upon by the archbishops and bishops in both provinces and the
whole clergy in the Convocation holden at London in the year
of our Lord God 1562 and set forth by her Majesty's authority,
and that he believeth all the articles therein contained to be
agreeable to the word of God.
Jo. Cant. Jo. London. Jo. Sarum.
Ed. Petribubg. Tho. Lincoln. Edm. Norwich.
Jo. RoFFEN. Tho. Exon. Mabmad. Meneven.
Strype, WhitijiJ't, I. pp. 228-232; Reg. I, Whilgfft.
* spiritual (Cardwell, from Beg. I, Whitgift).
1584.] Biirghley and Whitgift. 213
17. Lord Burghley to Archbishop Whitgift, 1584.
It may please your Grace, I am sorry to trouble you so often
as I do, but I am more troubled myself, not only with many
private petitions of sundry ministers, recommended from persons
of credit for peaceable persons in their ministry, and yet by
complaints to your Grace and other your colleagues in commis-
sion greatly troubled ; but also I am now daily charged by
councillors and public persons to neglect my duty in not stay-
ing these your Grace's pi'oceedings so vehement and so general
against ministers and preachers, as the Papists are thereby
generally encouraged, all ill-disposed subjects animated, and
thereby the Queen's Majesty's safety endangered . . . But now,
my good Lord, by chance I am come to the sight of and instru-
ment of twenty-four articles ^ of great length and curiosity,
found in a Romish style, to examine all manner of ministers in
this time, without distinction of persons. Which articles are
entitled, Apud Lamhith, May 1584, to he executed ex officio viero,
&c. . . . Which I have read, and find so curiously penned, so
full of branches and circumstances, as I think the inquisitors of
Spain use not so many questions to comprehend and to trap
their preys. I know your canonists can defend these with all
their perticels, but surely, under your Grace's correction, this
judicial and canonical sifting of poor ministers is not to edify
or reform. And, in charity, I think they ought not to answer
to all these nice points, except they were very notorious
offenders in papistry or heresy. Now my good Lord, forbear
with my scribbling. I write with a testimony of a good con-
science. I desire the peace of the Church. I desire concord
and unity in the exercise of our religion. I favour no sensual
and wilful recusants. But I conclude that, according to my
simple judgment, this kind of jDroceeding is too much savouring
1 Printed in the Appendix io St type's Whitgift, III. p. 8i (Book III,
No. IV); cf. id. I. p. 268. These articles, dated May, 1584, obliged the
examinee to declare, among other things, that the Book of Common Prayer
contained nothing repugnant to scripture, and to state whether he had
refused to wear the surplice or to use the sign of the cross in baptism, the
ring in marriage, and the form of words prescribed in burial, whether he
had adhered strictly in all respects to the form of service prescribed in the
Prayer-Book, whether he had subscribed to the three articles demanded of
all ministers (see above, Whitgift' s Articles, VI.), &c.
214 Elizabeth. [i584.
of the Eomish inquisition, and is rather a device to seek for
offenders than to reform any. This is not the charitable
instruction that I thought was intended ... It may be, as I
said, the canonists may maintain this proceeding by rules of
their laws, but though omnia licent yet omnia non expediunt . . .
Primo Julii, 1584. Your Grace's at commandment,
W. Cecill.
Strype, Whitgift, III. pp. 104-107 ; cf. id. I. p. 311.
18. Archbishop Whitgift to Lord Burghley., 1584.
My singular good Lord, In the very beginning of this action
and so from time to time, I have made your Lordship acquainted
with all my doings . . . Touching the twenty-four articles which
your Lordship seemeth so much to mislike, ... I cannot but
greatly marvel at your Lordship's vehement speeches against
them (I hope without cause), seeing it is the ordinary course
in other courts likewise : as in the Star-Chamber, the Court of
the Marches, and other places. And (without offence be it
spoken) I think these articles to be more tolerable, and better
agreeing with the rule of justice and charity, and less captious,
than those in other courts . . . And. therefore, I see no cause
why our judicial and canonical proceedings in this point should
be misliked . . .
Your Lordship sayeth that these articles are devised [&c.].
The like may be said of the like orders in other courts also . . .
I have not dealt as yet with any but such as have refused to
subscribe and given manifest tokens of contempt of orders and
laws . . . Neither hath any man thus been examined which hath
not before been conferred with ... I know your Lordship
desireth the peace of the Church, but how is it possible to be
procui'ed, after so long liberty and lack of discipline, if a few
persons, so meanly qualified as most of them are, should be
countenanced against the whole state of the clergy of greatest
account for learning, steadiness, wisdom, religion and honesty . . .
From Croydon, 3 July, 1584. To your Lordship most
bound Jo. Cantuae.
Strype, Whitgift, III. pp. 107-112; cf. id. I. pp. 317-334.
1584.] Parliamentary Petition for Church Reform. 215
1 9. Petition of the House of Commons for ecclesiastical reform,
1584.
The humble petitions ^ of the Commons of the Lower House
of Parliament to be offered to the consideration of the right
honourable the lords spiritual and temporal of the Higher
House.
(i) Where by a statute^ made the thirteenth of her Majesty's
reign it was enacted, That none should be made a minister
unless he should be able to answer and render to the ordinary
an account of his faith in Latin, according to certain articles ^
set forth in a synod hold en in the year 1562 * and mentioned in
the said statute, or have special gift and ability to be a preacher;
it may please their honourable lordships to consider whether it
were meet to be ordained, that so many as have been taken
into the ministry since the making of this statute and be not
qualified according to the true meaning and intent of the same,
be within a competent time suspended from the ministry . . .
(2) That where in a synod holden in the year 1575, it was
provided '*, That unlearned ministers heretofore made by any
bishops should not from henceforth be admitted to any cure or
spiritual function, it may also like their lordships to advise
whether so many as have been since that time admitted con-
trary to the form of that article, shall be within a competent
time removed ; and that for better explanation of that article
such be taken for unlearned, as be not qualified according to
the statute before recited . . .
(3) . . . That none hereafter be admitted to the ministry but
such as shall be sufficiently furnished with gifts to perform so
high and so earnest a charge, and that none be superficially
allowed as persons qualified according to the statute of the
thirteenth of her Majesty's reign before recited, but with
* In the fifth Parliament of Elizabeth's reign, certain petitions were
presented to the House of Commons, for the introduction of various
changes desired by the Puritan party. On i6 Dec, 1584, a Committee
was appointed, on the motion of Sir VV. Mildmay, to reduce the contents
of these petitions into articles which might be laid before the House of
Lords, with the object of joint action by both Houses. The above articles
were drawn up by this committee ; see note on p. 219.
* Stat. 13 Eliz. 12. » The Thirty-Nine Articles.
* 1562-3. '^ Canons of 1575, § III.
21 6 Elizabeth. [i584.
deliberate examination of their knowledge and exercise in the
holy scriptures answerable to the true meaning of that statute.
(4) Further, That for so much as it is prescribed in the
jorm of ordering ministers that the bishops toith the priests
present shall lay their hands severally upon the head of every one
that receivelh orders, without mention of any certain number of
priests that shall be present ; and that in a statute ^ made in
the twenty-first of King Henry the Eighth it is affinned that
a bishop must occupy six chaplains in giving of orders ; it may
be considered whether it may be meet to provide that no
bishop shall ordain any minister of the word and sacraments,
but with the assistance of six other ministers at the least, and
thereto such only be chosen as be of good report for their life,
learned, continually resiant upon their benefices with cure . . .
(5) . . , That none be admitted to be a minister of the word
and sacraments but in a benefice having cure of souls then
vacant in the diocese of such a bishop as is to admit him, or to
i-ome place certain where such minister to be made is offered to
be entertained a preacher, or such graduates as shall be at the
time of their admission into the ministry placed in some fellow-
ship or scholarship within the Universities, or at the least that
trial be made of this order for such time as to their honors'
Avisdi ms shall be thought convenient.
(6) . . . That none be instituted ... to any benefice with cure
of souls or received to be curate in any charge without some
competent notice before given to the parish where they shall
take their charge, and some reasonable time allowed wherein it
may be lawful to such as can discover any defect in conversation
of life in the person Avho is to be so placed as is aforesaid, to
come and object the same.
(7) That for the encouragement of many desirous to enter
into the ministry . . . hereafter no oath or subscription be
tendered to any that is to enter into the ministry or to any
benefice with cure, or to any place of preaching, but such only
as be expressly prescribed by the statutes of this realm ; saving
that it sliall be lawful for every ordinary to try any minister
presented to any benefice within his diocese by his oath, whether
he is to enter corruptly or incorruptly into the same.
' It does not appear what statute is referred to.
1584..] Parliamentary Peiitiofi for Church Reform. 217
(8) Whereas sundry ministers of this realm, diligent in their
calling and of good conversation and life, have of late years
been . . . molested by some exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
for omitting small portions or some ceremony prescribed in the
Book of Common Prayer, . . . [that] such ministers as in the public
service of the Church and the administration of the sacraments
do use the Book of Common Prayer allowed in the statutes of
this realm, and none other, be not from henceforth called in
question for omissions or changes of some portions or rite, as
is aforesaid, so their doings therein be void of contempt.
(9) That, forasmuch as it is no small discouragement to many
that they see such as be already in the ministry openly dis-
graced by officials and commissaiies, who daily call them to
their courts to answer complaints of their doctrine and life or
breach of orders prescribed by the ecclesiastical laws and
statutes of this realm, it may please the reverend fathers, our
archbishops and bishops, to take to their own hearings, with
such grave assistance as shall be thought meet, the causes of
complaint made against any known preacher within their,
diocese . . .
(10) It may also please the said reverend fathers to extend
their charitable favour to such known godly and learned
preachers as have been suspended or deprived for no public
offence of life, but only for refusal to subscribe to such articles
as lately have been tendered in diverse parts of the realm or
for such like things, that they may be restored to their former
charges or places of preaching, or at the least set at liberty to
j)reach where they may be hereafter called.
(i i) Further, that it may please tiie reverend fathers aforesaid
to forbear their examinations ex officio mero of godly and learned
preachers, not detected unto them for open offence of life or
for public maintaining of apparent error in doctrine ; and only
to deal with them for such matters as shall be detected in
them. And that also her Majesty's commissioners for causes
ecclesiastical be required, if it shall so seem good, to forbear the
like proceeding against such preachers, and not to call any of
them out of the diocese where he dwelleth, except for some
notable offence, for reformation whereof their aid shall be re-
quired by the ordinary of the said preachers.
2i8 Elizabeth. [i584.
(12) Item, That for the better increase of knowledge of such
as shall be employed in the ministry ... it may be permitted to
the ministers of every archdeaconry ... to have some common
exercises and conferences among themselves to be limited and
prescribed by their ordinaries . . .
(13) Where complaint is made of the abuse of excommunica-
tion ... it may please your lordships to consider whether some
bill might not be conveniently framed to this effect, viz. That
none having ecclesiastical jurisdiction shall in any matter . . .
other than in the cases hereafter mentioned, give or pronounce
any sentence of excommunication ; and that, for the contumacy
of any person in cases depending before them, it shall be lawful
to pronounce him only contumax, and so to denounce him
publicly ; and if upon such denunciation . . . the party shall not
submit himself . . . within forty days, then it shall be lawful to
signify his contumacy in such manner and sort and to such court
as heretofore hath been used for persons so long standing excom-
municate ; and that upon such certificate a writ de contumace
capiendo shall be awarded of like force ... as the writ de
excommunicato capiendo is.
(14) Nevertheless, forasmuch as it seemeth not meet that
the Church should be left without this censure of excommuni-
cation, it may be provided that for enormous crimes, as incest,
adultery and such like, the same be executed by the reverend
fathers the bishops themselves with the assistance of grave
persons, or else by other persons of calling in the church Avitli
like assistance and with such other considerations as upon
deliberation shall be herein advised of, and not by chancellors,
commissaries or officials, as hath been used.
(15) Where licences of non-residence are offensive in the church
and be occasion that a great multitude of this realm do want
instruction, and it seemeth that cases certain wherein the same
may be allowed can hardly be devised, ... it may therefore be
considered by their honourable lordships, whether it were
more convenient or necessary that the use of them were utterly
removed out of the Church ; and so likewise of pluralities.
(16) But, howsoever it shall be thought convenient to order
these faculties, . . . may it please their lordships to consider,
whether it were expedient to provide that none now having
1585.] Puritan Petition. 219
licence of non-residence . . . shall hereafter be permitted to
enjoy the benefit of such licence, except he depute an able and
sufficient preacher to serve the cure, and that no curate by him
placed be suffered to continue in his service of that cure,
except he be of sufficient ability to preach and doth weekly
teach that congregation and perform the other duties of in-
structing the youth in the catechism required by her Majesty's
injunctions in that behalf \
Strype's Whitgift, III. pp. 1 18-124; D'Ewes' Journals, pp. 357-9;
cf. id. pp. 359, 360.
20. Puritan Petition to the Queen, 1585.
Certain humble petitions ^, which are in most humble manner
to be presented to the godly consideration of our sovereign lady
Queen Elizabeth . . .
IX. . . . That every archbishop and bishop of this Church . . . ,
if it be found . . . that the office of the archbishop or bishop, as
it is now, is both necessary and profitable for the Church . . . ,
shall . . . have assigned . . . unto him, by the same authority by
which he is chosen archbishop or bishop, eight, ten, twelve, or
more preaching pastors, doctors and deacons, such as are resi-
dent on their own parishes and charges, within his and their
diocese, together with some other grave and godly men of
worship or justices of peace within that shire, in such a
ceitain number as shall be thought good to the Queen and her
council, which may be assistant to him . . . ; and that the said
archbishop and bishop shall, with them and by their counsel,
advise and consent, hear and determine every cause eccle-
siastical which is now used to be heard before any archbishop
and bishop or ordinary . . .
X. And that . . . every pastor resident on his charge . . .
shall by the advice and direction of the bishop of the diocese,
and of his associates, present to the said bishop and his
1 This petition appears to have been laid before the House of Lords
shortly before the adjournment on 21 Dec, 1584. The Lords deferred
their answer till 22 Feb., 1585. The Lord Treasurer then declared that
some of the articles appeared to the Lords to be unnecessary, while others
were already provided for.
2 This petition is said by Strype {Annals, V. p. 320) to have been
endorsed by Lord Burghley, ' Mr Sampson's book to the parliament.'
220 Elizabeth. [i585.
associates, four, six or eight inhabitants of his parish, such as
shall be thought . . . meet to be the associates and seniors . . .
with the said pastor, to govern his said parish with him; to
hear and order with him such quarrels, offences, and disorders
in life and manners, as should be among the same parishioners.
And if the causes and quarrels ... be such that the same
pastor and his associates or seniors cannot determine the same,
. . . then shall the said pastor . . . bring the said cause before
the bishop of the diocese and the elders, which are to him
associate . . .
XIII. That no one bishop do hereafter proceed in admitting
or depriving of any pastor by his sole authority, nor in excom-
municating any faulty person, nor in absolving any person
that is excommunicated, nor in the deciding and determining
of any cause ecclesiastical, without the advice and consent of
the aforesaid seniors and associates joined with him . . .
XIV. Moreover, . . . that it shall not be lawful for any man
to appeal from the sentence and judgment of the bishop, given
Avith the advice aforesaid . . . but only to the next provincial
synod . . .
XV. And that it may be lawful for the provincial synod,
being called by the Queen, ... to admit every appeal so made
. . . and to give sentence upon it . . . From the which sentence
of the provincial synod it shall not be lawful for any man to
appeal . . . but only to a national and general council of the
whole nation.
XVI. That such a provincial synod be called every year
once, both in the province of Canterbury and also of York . . .
And that a national or general council for the whole Eng-
lish and Irish nations be called ever hereafter, once in seven
years, by the Queen, her heirs and successors . . . And that
from henceforth, the yearly synods, visitations and courts, kept
ordinarily for money by the sole authority of archbishops,
bishops, archdeacons, chancellors [&c.] do cease.
XVII. . . . That neither the said archbishops . . . nor the
bishops ... do hereafter, by their sole and private authority,
make and publish any injunctions touching religion or church
government . . .
XXIV. That ... in every synod hereafter to be called, . . .
1585.] Queen's Speech about Religion. 221
the bishops, denns, archdeacons, clerks, and such as shall be
called by order to the synod, do all sit together brotherly in
one house; and that they do choose one of themselves to be the
moderator or prolocutor of tlie synod . . . That there may be
also by the appointment of the Queen and her council, joined to
them, to sit with them in the synod or convocation, some other
godly learned men which are not in the oi'der of the ministry,
... to give their consent to the conclusions which shall be
made.
XXIX. . . . And to the end that the said bishops may here-
after do that office which shall be committed to them the more
sincerely, we desire that all they . . . may be delivered from the
burden of all worldly pomp, honour and charge ; . . . and that
they also be set so free fi'om the administration of all civil
causes and offices, that they may wisely apply themselves to the
labour of the gospel and ecclesiastical function in diligence and
sincerity . . . Strype, Annals, VI. pp. 278-297 ; cf. V. p. 320.
21. The Queens s])eech in Parliament^, 1^8^.
My Lords and ye of the Lower House : No prince herein,
I confess, can be surer tied or faster bound than I am with the
link of your good will, and can for that but yield a heart and a
head to seek for ever all your best ; yet one matter toucheth
me so near, as I may not overskip, religion, the ground on
which all other matters ought to take root, and being cor-
rupted may mar all the tree. And that there be some fault-
finders with the Order of the Clergy, which so many make a
slander to myself and the Church, whose over-ruler God hath
made me ; whose negligence cannot be excused, if any schisms
or errors heretical were suffered : thus much I must say, that
some faults and negligences may grow and be, as in all other
great charges it happeneth, and what vocation without 1 All
which if you my Lords of the Clergy do not amend, I mean to
depose you. Look ye therefore well to your charges. This
may be amended without heedless or open exclamations . . .
I see many over-bold with God Almighty, making too many
subtle scannings of His blessed will, as lawyers do with human
testaments. The presumption is so great, as I may not suffer
' Made on the occasion of proroguing parliament, 29 March, 1585.
222 Elizabeth. [i585.
it (yet mind I not hereby to animate Romanists, which what
adversaries they be to mine estate is sufficiently known)
nor tolerate new-fangledness. I mean to guide them both by
God's holy true rule. In both parts be perils ; and of the latter
I must pronounce them dangerous to a kingly rule, to have
every man, according to his own censure, to make a doom of
the validity and privity of his prince's government, with a
common veil and cover of God's word, whose followers must not
be judged but by private men's exposition. God defend you
from such a ruler that so evil will guide you.
jy^wei Joumah, p. 328.
22. Canons 0/ 1584-5.
Articuli j^er . . . clerum Cantuariensis provinciae in synodo
inchoata Londini [24 Nov. 1584J . . . stabiliti, et regia auctori-
tate approbati et confirmati.
IV. De quihusdam circa excommunicationem excessibus
coercendis sive reformandis.
(i) Quia excommunicatiouis usus in ecclesia perpetuae legis
vigorem iam obtinuit . . . ideo absque grandi mutatione totius
eiusce iurisdictionis et plurimarum huius legni legum innovari
vel alterari nequit ; nihilominus, ut excommunicatio, quae
auctoritatis ac disciplinae ecclesiasticae quasi nervus quidam ac
vinculum habendum est, ad pristinuni suum usum, decus et
dignitatem reducatur ; cautum est ut quotiescunque censura
ista in immediatam poenam cuiusvis notoriae haereseos, schis-
matis, simoniae, periurii, usurae, incestus, adulterii seu gra-
A-ioris alicuius criminis venerit infligenda, sententia ipsa per
archiepiscopum, episcopum, decanum, archidiaconum vel prae-
bendarium (modo sacris ordinibus et ecclesiastica iurisdictione
praeditus fuerit) in propi-ia persona pronunciabitur, una cum
eiusmodi frequentia et assistentia quae ad maiorem rei auctori-
tatem conciliandam conducere videbitur.
V. De benejiciorum jpluralitate cohibenda.
Quod nemini in posterum facultas sive indulgentia conce-
detur de pluribus beneficiis simul retinendis, nisi huiusmodi
tantum, qui pro eruditione sua et maxime digni . . . cense-
1585.] Doctrines of the Independents. 323
buntur : nimirum, ut is qui huiusmodi facilitate fruiturus
est, sit ad minimum artium magister et publicus ac idoneus
verbi divini concionator ; ita tamen ut idonea etiam cautione
obstrictus teneatur, de personali sua residentia in singulis
beneficiis per bonam anni cuiusque partem facienda, et quod
eiusmodi beneficia triginta milliai'ium spatio ad summum non
distent abinvicem. Denique quod idoneum curatum habeat,
qui plebem eius parochiae, in qua non residebit, instituat ac
informet, mode facultates eiusdem beneficii talem commode
sustinere posse archiepiscopo vel eius dioeceseos episcopo vide-
buntur . . .
23. Doctrines of the Independents,
(i) ... Amongst whom there were very forward to the like
presumption Henry Barrow, gentleman, and John Greenwood,
clerk, who were convented before the High Commissioners for
Causes Ecclesiastical in November, 1587 [1586], for their
schismatical and seditious opinions, namely, that our Church
is no Church, or at the least no true Church ; yielding these
reasons therefore. That the worship of the English Church is
flat idolatry : that we admit into our Church persons unsanc-
tified : that our preachers have no lawful calling : that our
government is ungodly : that no bishop or preacher preacheth
Chrifet sincerely and truly : that the people of every parish
ought to choose their bishop, and that every elder, though he
be no doctor nor pastor, is a bishop : that all the precise which
refuse the ceremonies of the Church and yet preach in the
same Church, strain a gnat and swallow a camel and are close
hypocrites and walk in a left-handed policy, as Master Cart-
wright : . . . that set prayer is blasphemous.
Paules Life of Whitgift, 1612, p. 43.
(2) Q. Whether he thinketh that any Liturgies . . . may be
imposed upon the Church ... 1 A. 1 find in the word of God
no such authority given to any man, neither such liturgies
prescribed or used in the primitive Churches ; and therefore
bold it high presumption to impose any one devised Apo-
crypha prayer upon the Church ... I think the Queen's
Majesty supreme governor of the whole land, and over the
Church also, bodies and goods ; but I think that no prince . . .
224 Elizabeth. [isss.
neither the Church itself, may make any laws for the Church
other than Christ hath already left in his word. . . . The holy
government of Christ helongeth not to the profane or un-
believing . . . hut over every particular congregation of Christ
there ought to be an eldership, and every such congregation
ought to their uttermost power to endeavour thereunto.
Burroive's Examination: Harl. Misc. ed. 1745, IV. p. 332.
(3) They [the magistrates] may do nothing concerning the
Church, but only civilly and as civil magistrates : that is, they
have not that authority over the Church as to be prophets or
priests or spiritual kings, as they are magistrates over the same,
but only to rule the commonwealth in all outward justice, to
maintain the right welfare and honour thereof with outward
power, bodily punishment and civil forcing of men. And
therefore also, because the Church is in a commonwealth, it is
of their charge : that is, concerning the outward provision and
outward justice, they are to look to it ; but to compel religion,
to plant churches by power, and to force a submission to eccle-
siastical government by laws and penalties belongeth not to
them. . . .
The Church planted or gathered is a company or number of
Christians or believers, which, by a willing covenant made
with their God, are under the government of God and Christ
and keep his laws in one holy communion ; because Christ hath
redeemed them unto holiness and happiness for ever, from
which they were fallen by the sin of Adam.
[ Worlis of Robert Browne {quoted hy Dexter, Congregationalism,
pp. 101, 105).
24. Martin Mar prelate libels, 1588.
Ut externo hello, ita etiam interne schismate hoc tempore
laboravit Anglia : schismatica enim pravitas semper bello
ardente maxime luxuriat. Nee certe contumax in eccle-
siasticos magistratus impudentia et contumeliosa improbitas
insolentius alias se exercuit. Etenim cum Regina, quae
semper eadem, novatores in religione audire noluerit, quos
ecclesiasticae administrationis et regiae praerogativae nervos
succisuros existimavit, nonnulli ex iis qui Geneveusis Ecclesiae
1591.] Attacks on the High Commission. 225
disciplinam unice admirabantur non aliam rationem constituendi
eandem in Anglia excogitari posse putarunt, quam Anglicani
liierarchiam insectando et praesulibus invidiam apud populum
couflando. Hi itaque et in hierarchiain et in praesules pro-
brosis editis libellis, quibus tituli erant Martinus Praesulibus
exitiosus vel Praesulo-Mastix, Mineralia, Diotrephes, Demon-
stratio Disciplinae, &c., calumniis et convitiis virulentissimis
adeo scurriliter debacchati sunt, ut autbores non pietatis cul-
tores sed e popina ganeones viderentur. Authores tamen
erant Penrius et TJdallus verbi ministri et Jobus Throcmortonus
vir doctus et facete dicax . . .
Camden, Annales, I. p. 497 ; s. a. 1588.
25. Attacks on the Iliyh Commission, 1591.
Nee lii soli sed etiam alii qui receptam in Ecclesia Anglicana
disciplinam episcoporum vocationem damnando et praesules
contumeliose calumniando hactenus frustra impugnarunt, nunc,
pertractis in eorum partes nonnullis iuris Anglici peritis, in
eorum iurisdictionem et delegatam a Regiua iu ecclesiasticis
causis authoritatem ut prorsus iniustam et linguas et calamos
strinxerunt, declamando ubique etiam libris publicatis homines
contra regni leges in foris ecclesiasticis indigne opprimi ;
Reginam eiusmodi authoritatem ex iure non posse delegare nee
alios exercere delegatam ; i'ora ilia non posse a reo iusiurandum
ex officio exigere, cum nemo seijisum accusai'e teneatur ; iusiu-
randum illud homines ad sui condemnationem cum ignominiosa
confusione, vel in spontaneum j)eriurlum cum animarum exitio
praecipitare ; praeterea de aliis quam matrimonialibus et
testamentariis causis non debere cognoscere. . . .
Contra iuiis ecclesiastici professores regiam in ecclesitisticis
authoritatem propugnarunt, utique parlamentaria authoritate
iu Eegina investitam. Hanc oj^pugnare nihil aliud esse quam in
maiestatem irruere et sticrosanctae praerogativae violato obse-
quii iuramento insultare ; fora ecclesiastica de aliis quam
matrimonialibus et testamentariis posse cognoscere, ex statuto
Circumsj^ecte agatis et ArticuUs Cleri sub Edwardo Primo
docuei'unt. . . . Regina, baud ignara suam authoritatem per
episcoporum latera in hoc negotio peti, adversantium impetus
1,26 Elizabeth. [1595.
tacite infregit, et ecclesiasticam iurisdictionem illaesam con-
servavit. Camden, Aimales, II. p. 38, s. a. 1591.
26. The Lambeth Articles, 1595.
Articull approbati a Eeverendis&imis Dominis D. D. Joanne
Afchiepiscopo Cantuarienai et E-icbardo Episcoiw Loudinensi et
aliis tbeologis, Lambetbae, Novembris 20, anno 1595-
I. Deus ab aeterno praedestinavit quosdam ad vitam et
quosdam ad mortem reprobavit.
II. Causa movens aut efficiens praedestinationis ad vitam
non est provisio fidei aut perseverantiae aut bonorum operum
aut uUius rei quae insit in personis praedestiuatis, sed sola
voluntas beneplaciti Dei.
III. Praedestinatorum praefinitus et certus numerus est, qui
nee augeii nee minui potest.
TV. Qui non sunt praedestinati ad salutem necessario propter
peccata sua damnabuxitur.
IX. Non est positum in arbitrio aut potestate uniuscuiusque
horainis servari. Stiype, Whitijift, II. p. 280.
27. Canons of 1597.
III. Ut benejiciati in suis benejtciis curatis hosjntalitatem
exerceant.
Quoniam ecclesiarum catbedralium canonici sive praebendarii
ecclesiastica beneficia curata alibi saepius possident et tamen
... ad cathedrales convolant ibique moram faciuut longiorem,
unde nee curae parociiianorum illis commissae satis prospi-
citur, nee pauperes domi suae, sicut dlfficultas buius temporis
exigit, aluntur atque sustentantur; idcirconos . . . decernendum
censemus ut omnes canonici sive praebendarii, qui beneficia
curata unum sive duo obtinent nee residentiarii necessarii in
suis ecclesiis catbedralibus existunt, ulti"a tempus quo in
catbedralibus residere tenentur, a beneficiis suis curatis prae-
textu praebeudarura &e non absentent. , . . Quod autem ad eo3
attinet qui ad residentiam . . . obligantur . . . eos ita inter se
anni tempora partiri volumus, quoad residentiam in catbedralibus
babendara, ut eorum aliqui in ecclesiis illis semper adsint et
personaliter resideant ...
1559.] The High Commission. 327
XI. Be excessibus aiyparitorum reformandis.
Praeterea quoiiiam excessibus et gravaminibus quae per ap-
paiitores inferri dicuntur remedium cupimus adbibere oppor-
tunum, videtur ut apparitorum multitude, quantum fieri poterit,
restringatur . . .
Praeterea in causis officii et correctionis ne quae fiant cita-
tiones generales, quae viilgo 'Quorum nomina' dicuntur, nisi
partes citandae veris nominibus expressis . . . scribantur. . . .
Cardwell, Synodalia, T. p. 147.
28. Court of High Commission.
(a) First Commission, 1559.
[I.] Elizabeth by the grace of God [&c.]. To the reverend
father in God Mathew Parker, nominated bishop of Canterbury,
and Edmond Grindall, nominated bishop of London, and to our
right trusted and right well-beloved councillors Francis Knowles
our vice-chamberlain, and Ambrose Cave, knights, and to our trusty
and well-beloved Anthony Cooke and Thomas Smyth, knights,
William Bill our almoner, Walter Haddon and Thomas Sack-
ford, masters of our requests, Rowland Hill and William
Chester, knights, Eandoll Cholmely and John Southcote, Serjeants
at the law, William May, doctor of law, Francis Cave, Richard
Gooderick and Gilbert Gerrard, esquires, Robert Weston and
Thomas Huick, doctors of law, greeting.
[TL] Where at our Parliament holden at Westminster the
25th day of January and there continued and kept until the
eighth of May then next following, amongst other things, there
was two Acts and Statutes made and established, the one
entitled * An Act for the uniformity of Common Prayer [&c.],'
and the other entitled ' An Act restoring to the Crown the
ancient jurisdiction [&c.],' as by the same several Acts more at
large doth appear : and where divers seditious and slanderous
persons do not cease daily to invent and set forth false rumours,
tales, and seditious slanders, not only against us and the said
good laws and statutes, but also have set forth divers seditious
books within this our realm of England, meaning tliereby to
move and procure strife, division and dissension amongst our
loving and obedient subjects, much to the disquieting of us and
our people :
228 Elizabeth. [1559.
[III.] "Wherefore we, earnestly minding to have the same
Acts before mentioned to be duly put in execution, and such
persons as shall hereafter offend in anything contrary to the
tenor and effect of the said several statutes to be condignly
punished, and having especial tru^t and confidence in your
wisdoms and discretions, have authorised, assigned and ap-
pointed you to be our commissioners^ and by these presents do
give our full power and authority to you, or six of you, whereof
you, the said Muthew Parker, Edmond Grindall, Thomas Smyth,
Walter Haddon, Thomas Sackford, Kichard Gooderick and
Gilbert Gerrard, to be one, from time to time hereafter, during
our pleasure, to enquire as well by the oaths of twelve good
and lawl'ul men, as also by witnesses and all other ways and
means ye can devise for all offences, misdoers [sic] and mis-
demeanours done and committed and hereafter to be committed
or done contrary to the tenor and effect of the said several
acts and statutes and either of them and also of all and singular
heretical opinions, seditious books, contempts, consj^iracies, false
rumours, tales, seditions, misbehaviours, slanderous words or
shewiugs, published, invented or set forth, or hereafter to be
published, invented or set forth by any person or persons
against us or contrary or against any the laws or statutes of
this our realm, or against the quiet governance and rule of our
people and subjects in any county, city, borough or otlier place
or places within this our realm of England, and of all and
every the coadjutors, counsellors, comlorters, procurers and
abettors of every such offender.
[IV.J And further, we do give power and authority to you
or six of you [quorum as befoie], from time to time hereafter
during our pleasure, as well to hear and determine all the
premises, as also to enquire, hear and determine all and
singular enormities, disturbances and misbeha%noui's, done and
committed or hereafter to be done or committed in any church
or chapel, or against any divine service, or the minister or
ministers of the same, contrary to the laws and statutes of this
realm : and also to enquire of, search out and to order, correct
and reform all such persons as hereafter shall or will obstinately
absent themselves from church and such divine service as by the
laws and statutes of this realm is appointed to be had and used.
1559.] The High Commission. 229
[v.] And also we do ,£?ive and grant full power and authority
unto you and six of you [quorum as before] from time to time
and at all times during our pleasure, to visit, reform, redress,
order, correct and amend in all places within this our realm of
England all such errors, heresies, crimes, abuses, offences, con-
tempts and enormities spiritual and ecclesiastical wheresoever
[sic] which by any spiritual or ecclesiastical power, authority
or jurisdiction can or may lawfully be reformed, ordered, re-
dressed, corrected, restrained or amended, to the pleasure of
Almighty God, the increas^e of virtue, and the conservation of
the peace and unity of this our realm, and according to the
authority and power limited, given and appointed by any laws
or statutes of this realm.
[VI.] And also that you or six of you [quorum as before]
shall likewise have full power and authority from time to time
to enquire of and search out all masterless men, quarrellers,
vagrant and suspect persons within our city of London, and ten
miles compass about the same city, and of all assaults and
affrays done and committed within the same city and compass
aforesaid.
[VII.] And also we give full power and authority unto you
and six of you, as before, summarily to hear and finally deter-
mine, according to your discretions and by the laws of this
realm, all causes and complaints of all them, which in respect of
religion, or for lawful matrimony contracted and allowed by
the same, were injuriously deprived, defrauded or spoiled of
their lands, goods, possessions, rights, dignities, livings, offices,
spiritual or temporal ; and them so deprived, as before, to restore
into their said livings, and to put them in possession, amoving
the usurpers in convenient speed, as it shall seem to your
discretions good, by your letters missive or otherwise, all
frustratory appellations clearly rejected.
[VIII.] And further, we do give power and authority unto
you and six of you [quorum as before], by virtue hereof, not
only to hear and determine the same and all other offences and
matters before mentioned and rehearsed, but also all other
notorious and manifest advoutries, fornications and ecclesiastical
crimes and offences within this our realm, according to your
wisdoms, consciences and discretions.
230 Elizabeth. [1559.
[IX.] Willing and commanding you or six of you [quorum
as before] from time to time hereafter to use and devise all
such politic ways and means for the trial and searching out of
all the premises, as by you or six of you, as aforesaid, shall be
thouglit most expedient and necessary ; and upon due proof had,
and the offence or offences before specified, or any of them,
sufficiently proved against any person or persons by confession
of the party or by lawful witnesses or by any due mean before
you or six of you [quorum as before], that then you or six of
you, as afoi'esaid, shall have full power and authority to award
such j^unishment to everj' offender by fine, imj^trisonment or
otherwise, by all or any of the ways aforesaid, and to take such
order for the redress of the same, as to your wisdoms and
discretions [shall be thought meet and convenient] ^
[X.] [And further we do give full power and authority unto
you] ■^ or six of you [quorum as before] to call before you or
six of you as aforesaid from time to time all and every offender
or offenders, and such as ^ [to] you or six of you, as aforesaid,
shall seem to be suspect persons in any of the j^ remises ; and
also all such witnesses as you or six of you, as aforesaid, shall
think [meet] ^ to be called before you or six of you as aforesaid
and them and every of them to examine ujjon their corporal
oath, for the better trial and opening of the premises or any
part thereof.
[XI.] And if you or six of you, as aforesaid, shall find any
person or persons obstinate or disobedient either in their
[appearance] '' before you or six of you as aforesaid at your
calling or commandment or else not accomplishing or not
obej'ing yonv order, decrees and commandments in anything
touching the joremises or any part thereof; that then you, or
six of you, as aforesaid, shall have full power and authority to
commit the same person or persons so offending to ward, there
to remain until he or they shall be by you or six of you,
as aforesaid, enlarged and delivered.
[XII.] And further we do give unto you and six of you
[quorum as before] full power and authority to take and
^ The words ' shall be thought . . . authority unto you,' and the word
'meet' belnw, are wanting in the roll (as well as in that of 1562), and
are supplied from the Commission of 1572.
- 'by ' in original. ^ ' apparell ' in original.
1559.] The High Commission. 231
receive by your discretions of every offender or suspect person
to be convented or brought before you a recognisance or
recognisances, obligation or obligations to our use, in such sum
or sums of money as to you or six of you, as aforesaid, shall
seem convenient, as well for tlieir personal appearance before
you or six of you, as aforesaid, as also for the performance and
accomplishment of your orders and decrees, in case you or six
of you, as aforesaid, shall see it so convenient.
[XIII.] And further,, our will and pleasure is that you shall
appoint our trusty and well-beloved John Skinner to be your
register of all your acts, decrees and proceedings by virtue of
this commission, and in his default one other sufficient person,
and that you or six of you, as aforesaid, shall give such
allowance to the same register for his pains and his clerks,
to be levied of the fines and other profits that shall rise by
force of this commission and your doings in the premises, as to
your discretions shall be thought meet.
[XIV.] And further, our will and pleasure is that you or six
of you, as aforesaid, shall name and appoint one other sufficient
person to gather uj) and receive all such sums of money as shall
be assessed and taxed by you or six of you as aforesaid, for any
fine or fines upon any person or persons for their offences : and
that you or six of you, as aforesaid, by bill or bills signed with
your hands, shall and may assign and appoint as well to the
said person for his pains in recovering the said sums, as also to
your messengers and attendants upon you for their travail,
pains and charges to be sustained for or about the premises or
any part thereof, such sums of money for their rewards, as by
you or six of you, as aforesaid, shall be thought expedient :
willing and commanding you or six of you, as aforesaid, after
the time this our commission expired, to certify into our court
of exchequer as well the name of the said receiver as also a
note of such fines as shall be set or taxed before you ; to the
intent that, upon the . determination of account of the said
receiver, we be assured of that, that to us shall justly appertain :
willing and commanding also our auditors and other officers,
upon the sight of the said bills signed with the hand of you or
six of you, as aforesaid, to make unto the said receiver due
allowances according to the said bills upon his accounts.
332 Elizabeth. [i562.
[XV.] Wherefore we will and command yon, our com-
missioners, with diligence to execute the premises with effect ;
any of our laws, statutes, proclamations or other grants,
privileges or ordinances, which i)e or may seem to be contrary
to the premises, notwithstanding.
[XVI.] And more, we will and command all and singular
justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, constables and
other our officers, ministers and faithful subjects, to be aiding,
helping and assisting, and at your commandment in the due
execution hereof, as they tender our pleasure, and will answer
to the contrary at their utmost perils.
[XVII.] And we will and grant that these our letters patents
shall be a sufficient warrant and discharge for you and every of
you against us, our heirs and successors, and all and every
other person or persons whatsoever they be, of and for or
concerning the premises or any parcel hereof, of or for the
execution of this our commission or any part thereof.
Witness the Queen at Westminster, the y^^"^ day of July'.
Per ipsasi Regixam.
Tatent Rolls, i EHz. part 9.
(b) The Commission 0/ 1562 -.
[I.] Elizabeth, &c. To our trusty and well-beloved the most
reverend father in God, Mathew Archbishop of Canterbury,
Primate and Metropolitan of all England, the reverend father
in God Edmund Bishop of London, Eichard Bishop of Ely,
Edmund Bishop of Rochester, and to our right trusty and
well-beloved Counsellors Francis Knolles our Vice-chamberlain,
Ambrose Cave Chancellor of our Duchy, William Petre Chan*
cellor of the Order of the Garter Knights, and to our trusty
and well-beloved Anthony Coke and Thomas Smith Knights,
AV alter Haddon and Thomas Sackford Masters of the requests,
W^illiam Chester and William Garret Knights, Eandolf Cholmeley
and John Sowthcote Serjeants at the law, Alexander Nowell
* This Commission is printed, not very correctly, in CardwelVs Docu-
mentary Annals, vol.1, p. 223.
2 This Commission is headed ' Commissio Matheo Cantuar. Archiepiscopo
et aliis ad puniendum hnjusmodi personas qui sunt repugnanles divino
servicio.' It differs from the Commission of 1559 in the number of the
quorum (§ III), and it adds two new sections (§§ XV, XVI).
1562.] The High Commission. 233
Dean of Paul's, Gabriel Goodman Dean of Westminster, Gilbert
Gerrard Esquire our Attorney General, Robert Nowell Attorney
of our Court of Wards and Liveries, Eichard Ousley Clerk of
our Duchy, Peter Osbourne one of the Remembrancers of our
Exchequer, David Lewes judge of our high Court of the
Admiralty, Kobert Weston Dean of the Arches, Tliomas Huyck
Chancellor to the Bishop of London, ]Masters of our Court of
Chancery, Thomas Yale Chancellor to the Archbishop of
Canterbury, William Drury Commissary of the faculties
Doctors of the Law, and Thomas Watts Archdeacon of
Middlesex, greeting. . . .
[III.] Wherefore we, earnestly minding to have the same
several acts before mentioned to be duly put in execution and
such persons as shall hereafter offend in anything contrary to
the tenor and effect of the said several statutes to be condignly
punished, and having especial trust and confidence in your
wisdoms and discretions, have authorized, assigned and ap-
pointed you to be our commissioners, and by these presents do
give full power and authority unto you or three of you, whereof
you the said Archbishop of Canterbury or you Bishops of
London, Ely, Rochester or you the said Thomas Smith, Walter
Haddon, Thomas Sackford, or Gilbert Gerrarde to be one, from
time to time hereafter during our pleasure to enquire as well
by the oaths of twelve good and lawful men as also by witnesses
and all other ways and means ye can devise of all offences and
misdemeanours done and committed and hereafter to be com-
mitted and done contrary to the tenor and effect of the said
several acts and statutes . . .
[XV.] And whereas there were divers cathedral and collegiate
churches, grammar-schools and other ecclesiastical incorporations
erected, founded and ordained by the late king of famous
memory our dear father King Henry the Eighth and by our
dear late brother King Edward the Sixth and by our late sister
Queen Maiy and by the late Lord Cardinal Poole, the ordinances,
rules and statutes whereof be either none at all or altogetlier
imperfect or, being made of such time as the crown and
regiment of this reahn was subdued to the foreign authority of
E^me, they be in some points contraiy to the present state of
religion within the same ; We therefore do give full power and
234 Elizabeth. [i562.
authority to you or to six of you, of whom we will the afore-
Jiamed Archbishop of Canterbury, the aforesaid Bishops of
London, Ely or Rochester always to be one, to cause and
command in our name all and singular the ordinances, rules
and statutes of all and every the ^aid cathedral and collegiate
churches, grammar-schools and other ecclesiastical incorpora-
tions and foundations to be brought and exhibited before you
or six of you as is aforesaid ; willing and commanding you or
six of you, as is aforesaid, upon the exhibiting and upon diligent
and deliberate view, search and examination of the said statutes,
rules, ordinances, letters patents and writings, as is aforesaid,
not only to make speedy and undelayed certificate of the
enormities, disorders, defects, surplusages or wants of all and
singular the said statutes, rules and ordinances, but also with
the same to advertiae us of such good orders, rules and statutes
as you or six of you, as is aforesaid, shall think meet and
convenient to be by us made and set forth for the better order
and rule of the said sevei'al erections and foundations and the
possessions and levenues of the same, and as may best tend to
the honour of Almighty God, the increase of virtue and unity in
the same places, and the public weal and tranquillity of this
our realm, to the end Ave may thereupon further proceed to the
altering, making and establishing of the same and other statutes,
rules and ordinances according to the late act ^ of Parliament
thereof made in the first year of our reign.
[XVI.] And whereas we are also informed that there
remaineth as yet still within this our realm divers perverse
and obstinate persons which do i-efuse to acknowledge, confess
and set forth our superiority, prerogative and preeminence
within this our realm and other our dominions and also to
observe such ceremonies, rites and orders in divine service
which hath been established and set forth l)y the laws and
statutes of this realm and by our injunctions ; We therefore do
assign, depute and appoint and do give full power and authority
and jurisdiction to you or three of you, wdiereof the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the said Bishops of London, Ely, or Rochester to
be one, to receive and take of all Archbishops, Bishops and
other persons, officers and ministers ecclesiastical, of what
^ I Eliz. 2 2 (above, p. 36).
1572.] The High Commission. 235
estate, dignity, preeminence or degree soever they be, a certain
corporal oatli upon the holy Evangelists, specified, mentioned
and set forth in the aforesaid statute or act of Parliament,
entitled an Act restoring to the Crown the ancient jurisdiction
over the state ecclesiastical and spiritual and abolishing of all
foreign power repugnant to the same : the same oath to be
taken and received before you or three of you [special quorum
as before] of the said persons and every of them according to
the tenor, form and effect of the said act : willing and
requiring you or three of you [special quorum as before] to
take and leceive the same oaths of all persons before rehearsed
and every of them, and to certify us without delay into our
Court of Chancery of the receipt of the same under your seal or
the seals of three of you [special quorum as before] . . .
At Westminster the xx^Ji day of Julj',
Patent Roll, 4 Eliz. part 3.
(c) The Commission ©/ 1572 ^
Commissio directa arcbiepiscopo Cantuai'iensi et aliis pro eccle-
siasticis causis.
[I.] Elizabeth by the grace of God [&c.] To our trusty and
well-beloved the most reverend father in God, Mathew Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England and Metropolitan,
the reverend fathers in God, Edwin Bislioi^ of London, Eobert
Bishop of Winton, Richard Bishop of Ely, Nicholas Bishop of
Worcester, Richard Bishop of St David's, Edmond Bishop
of Rochester, Richard Bishop Suffragan of Dover, and to our
right trusty and well-beloved Councillors, Sir Francis Knowles
Knight, Treasurer of our household. Sir Ralph Sadler Knight,
Chancellor of our Duchy of Lancaster, Sir Walter Mildniay
Knight, Chancellor of our Exchequer, Sir Thomas Smyth
Knight, [and to 58 others] greeting :
[XVI.] . . . And if any the archbishops, bishops or other
persons, officers or ministers ecclesiastical afore rehearsed, or
any of them, shall peremptorily and obstinately refuse to take
' This Commission is the same, but for a few verbal or unimportant
differences, with that of 1562, except that it adds to § XVI the clause
printed below, and after § XVIII (§ XVI of 1559) the sections numbered
XIX, XX, XXI.
236 Elizabeth. [1572.
and receive the same cath, then to certify the same recusation
or recusations of them or any of them vinto us into our Court of
Chancery without delay likewise under your seals or the seals
of three of you.
[XIX.] And further cur will and pleasure is that you the
Bishop of Saint David's, the Bishop Suffragan of Dover [and
26 others named] do only intermeddle in and about the execu-
tion of this our commission for the reforniation of incorrigible
and disoi'dered subjects residents only within the dioceses of
Canterbury, Winchester, Worcester, Saint David's or Chichester,
and that only where ordinary course of common justice or law
is wanting or defective, without the prejudice or hindrance of
the due execution of such things or orders as shall be done or
appointed by other our commissioners resident at Lambeth or
London by virtue of our s-aid commission.
[XX.] And that from this day forward we do revocate and
call in the like commission ecclesiastical last granted to the
said archbishop with others named in the same, not meaning
hereby to derogate or to hinder anything begun by virtue of
any commission aforesaid : and that the same begun shall be
determined by virtue of this said commission.
[XXI.] And if any necessary witness or witnesses that shall
be thought meet and convenient to be brought to examination
for the proof of any matter depending in controversy before
you by virtue of this our commission sliall be so sick and
diseased that the same cannot come without danger of his life
to be examined before you or three of you, or else if upon
consideration of the poverty of any that shall sue or be sued
before you, it shall be thought^ that his or their witnesses
cannot conveniently be brought to be examined before you
without the great impoverishing of the said parties, because
they dwell or be resident in places of long and great distance
from the place where you shall sit in judgment, then we grant
and give authority unto you or three of you [quorum as before]
to appoint by your letters missives subscribed by three of you
some public notary to examine the said person or persons in
the j)lace of his or their habitation upon such interrogatories
as you shall join in writing to your said letters missives, and
* The original here inserts the word ' convenient.'
1576.] The High Commission. 237
the said examinations being so taken and cei't'fied to you oi*
three of you by the said notary under his notary seal to be of
so good force as if the said examinations were taken before
yourselves.
At Westminster the xit'> day of June.
Patent lioll, 14 Eliz. part 8.
(d) The Commission 0/ 1 576 \
I. Elizabeth, by the grace of God [&c.], to the most
reverend father in God, our right trusty and right well-beloved
Edmond Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England
and Metropolitan, and to the reverend fathers in God, our right
trusty and well-beloved, the Bishops of London, Winchester,
Ely, Worcester, St David's. Norwich, Chichester and Rochester
for the time being, Eichard Bishop Suffragan of Dover, and to
our right trusty and well-beloved councillors. Sir Francis
Knolles Kniglit, Treasurer of our household, Sir Thomas Smytli
Knight, Francis Walsingham Esquire, our Principal Secretaries,
Sir Ealph Sadler Knight, Chancellor of our Duchy of Lancaster,
Sir Walter Mildniay Knight, Chancellor of our Exchequer [and
to 58 others], greeting.
[IV.] . . . And also to take order by your discretions that
the penalties and forfeitures, limited by the said act for Uni-
formity of Common Prayer &c. against the offenders in that
behalf, may be duly from time to time levied by the church-
wardens of every parish where any such offence should be done,
to the use of the poor of the same parish, of the goods, lauds
and tenements of every such offender by way of distress, accord-
ing to the limitation and true meaning of the said statute.
[VI.] And also we do give and grant full power and autho-
rity unto you or three of you, as is aforesaid, from time to time
and at all times during our pleasure to enquire of, search out
and call before you all and every such person or persons
ecclesiastical which have or shall have ecclesiastical livings, that
shall advisedly maintain or affirm any doctrine directly contrary
or repugnant to any of the Articles of Religion which only con-
' This Commission omits §§ VI, VII, XVII of 15^9, and §§ XIX,
XX, XXI of 1572. The clause of § IV printed below, and §§ VI, XI,
XVIII are new, while § XVI differs considerably fi'om the corresponding
§ XVI of 1562 and 1572.
238 Elizabeth. [1576.
cern the confession of the ti'ue Christian faith and the doctrine
of the sacraments, comprised in a })ook imprinted, entitled
' Articles whereupon it was agreed by the Archbishops and
Bishops of both provinces and the whole clergy in the Convo-
cation holden at London in the year of our Lord God 1562
[&c.] put forth by the Queen's authority ' ; and that if any
such person or persons being conventcd before you or any three
of you, as is aforesaid, for any such matters, shall persist therein
or not revoke his or their error, or after such revocation eft-
soons affirm such untrue doctrine, then to deprive from all pro-
motions ecclesiastical all and every such person and persons so
maintaining or affirming or persisting or so eftsoons affirming
as is aforesaid.
[XL] And because there is great diversity in the persons
that are to be called before you, some of them dwelling far off
from you, some being fugitives, and some to be charged with
grievous ciimes and faults, the speedy redress whereof is most
requisite and therefore more speedy, effectual and straiter
process than by your letters missive is required in most of those
cases ; We, for the better execution and furtherance of our
service here, do give full power and authority unto you or
three of you [quorum as before] to command all and every our
justices and other officers and subjects within this our realm,
in all places as well exempt as not exempt, by your letters to
apprehend or cause to be apprehended any person or persons
which you shall think meet to be convented before you, to
answer to any matter touching the premises or any part
tliereof; and to take such sufficient bonds to our use as
you or three of you [quorum as before] shall by your letters
prescribe for his or their personal appearance to be made
before you or three of you, as aforesaid, and so to attend as
appertaineth. And in case any such person or persons so
apprehended be not able or will obstinately refuse to give
sufficient bonds to our use for his or their personal appearance
before you, as aforesaid, then we Avill that in our name you or
three of you [quorum as before] give commandment to such
justices [&c.], under whose chai'ge he or they so to be con-
vented afore you shall happen to remain, either for the bringing
him or them before you, either else to commit him or them to
1576.] The High Commission. 239
ward or other safe custody, so to remain until yow or three of
you [quoium as before] shall further order for his or their
enlargement.
[XVI.J And where also we are informed there remaineth as
yet still within this our realm divers perverse and obstinate
persons which do refuse to acknowledge the jurisdiction, power,
privilege, superiority and j)reeminence, s]jiritual and eccle-
siastical, over all states and subjects within this our realm and
other our dominions, which is given to us by virtue of the
aforesaid two acts, the one entitled 'An Act ^ for restoring to
the Crown the ancient jurisdiction [&c.],' and the other en-
titled ' An Act - for the assurance of the Queen's Majesty's
royal power [&c.] ' ; We therefore do assign, depute and appoint,
and by these presents do give full power and authority and
jurisdiction to you or three of you, whereof you the Archbishop
of Canterbury or the Bisliops of London, Winchester, Ely,
Worcester, Norwich, Chichester or Rochester for the time
being to be one, to tender or minister the oath expressed and
set forth in the said Act entitled ' An Act for restoring [&c.] '
to all and every archbishops, bishops and other persons,
officers and ministers ecclesiastical -and also to every other
person or persons appointed or compelhible by either of the
said acts to take the said oath, of what state, dignity, pre-
eminence or degree soever he or they be, and to receive and
take the said oath of the said persons and every of them,
according to the teaior, form and effect of the said acts or
either of them ; willing and requiring you or three of you, as
aforesaid, after the refusal or refusals of the same oath by any
person or persons aforesaid made, to certify us accordingly
under the seals of you or three of you, as aforesaid, the refusal
to take the same oath, and of the names, places and degrees of
the pel son or persons so refusing the same oath, before us in
our court commonly called the King's Bench.
[XVIII.] And that, for the better credit and more manifest
notice of your doings in the execution of this our commission, our
pleasure and commandment is that unto your letters missive,
processes, decrees, orders and judgments from, or by you or any
three of you to be awarded, sent forth, had, made, decreed,
^ Stat. I Eliz. c. I. "^ Stat. 5 Eliz. c. i.
240 Elizabeth. [leoi.
given or pronounced at Lambeth or London, you or ihree of
you, as aforesaid, shall cause to he put and affixed a seal
engraved with tlie rose and the crown over the rose, and the
letter E before and the letter R after the same, with a ring or
circumference about the same seal, containing as followeth ;
Sigil : Comissar : Keg : Ma : ad Cans. Ecclesiast.
... At Gorambury, the 23rd day of April, in the i8th year
of our reign. State Papers {domestic), ELiz. cvni. 7 ^
(e) Tlie Commission of 1 601 ^.
[I.] Elizabeth [&c.] to the most i-everend fatlier our right
trusty and well-beloved counsellor, John Lord Archbishop of
Canterbury . . . Sir Tliomas Egerton Knight, Lord Keeper of
our great seal of England . . . Thomas Lord Buckhurst, Knight of
the noble Order of the Garter and Lord high treasurer of Eng-
land, and to the reverend fathers, our right trusty and well-
beloved, the Bishops of London, Winchester, Ely, Rochester,
Lincoln, Hereford, Worcester, Norwich, Chichester, Gloucester,
Exeter, Salisbury and Peterborough, for the time being [and to
38 others] greeting.
[II.] Whereas in our Parliament summoned to be holden at
Westminster the 2 3vd day of January in the first year of our
reign ... by one Act then made and established, entitled ' An
Act restoring to the Crown the ancient jurisdiction [&c.],'
amongst other things it was established and enacted [&c.]. . . .
[III.] We therefore for sundry good weighty and necessary
causes and considerations us thereunto especially moving, of
our mere motion and certain knowledge, by force and virtue of
our supreme authority and prerogative royal and of the said
Act, do assign, name and authorize by these our letters patents
under our great seal of England you the said John Archbishop
1 This copy, being signed by the Queen, appears to be the original.
The Commission is incorrectly printed in Strype's Li/e of Grindal;
Appendix, No. VI.
^ This Commission, besides reciting the Statutes 35 Eliz. caps, i and 2,
in addition to those previously recited, and empowering the Commissioners
to execute them, sums up in § III the powers conferred upon the Com-
missioners in tenns rather more sweeping tlian those previously used.
Otherwise the commission differs in no important particular from that of
1576.
1579.] The High Commission. 241
of Canterbury [&c.] or any three or more of you (whereof
you the said John Archbishop of Canterbury [and 31 otliers
named] to be one), being all our natural born subjects,
from time to time and at all times during our pleasure, to
exercise . . . under us all manner of jurisdictions, privileges,
and preeminences in any wise touching or concerning any
spiritual or ecclesiastical jurisdiction within these our realms
of England or Ireland or any other our dominions or coun-
tries . . .
At Westminster, the third day of February [a. r. 43].
Bymer, Fcedera, XVI. p. 400.
(f) Ecclesiastical Commission for Wales, 1579.
Commissio pro causis ecclesiasticis in "Wallia.
Elizabeth by the grace of God, &c. to our trusty and right
well-beloved Sir Henry Sydney, Knight, Lord President of our
Council within our principality and marches of Wales, and to
the reverend father in God, John Bishop of Worcester, Vice-
president of the same council [and 18 others] greeting.
Whereas we are given to understand that divers and sundry
disorders and misbehaviours, as well in causes ecclesiastical as
other, have been committed and done by divers evil-disposed
persons, as well spiritual as temporal, and are very likely daily
to increase, to the pernicious example of all our loving subjects
inhabiting and dwelling within our principality and marches of
Wales, except some speedy remedy be had for reformation
thereof; know ye therefore that we, having special trust and
confidence in your approved wisdoms and fidelities, have
assigned, nominated and appointed you to be our commissioners,
and by these presents do give full power and authority unto
you ... or four of you, whereof ye the said Lord President or
Bishop of Worcester shall be one, to enquire, not only by the
verdict of twelve good and lawful men but also by all other
good and lawful means whatsoever, of all misdemeanours, mis-
behaviours, trespasses and offences whatsoever, and them to see
reformed and amended from time to time according to such
articles of instructions as ye shall receive from our Privy
Council in writing signed with six of their hands, and the
offender or offendei's to punish according to the ordei's of our
R
242 Elizabeth. [i558-.
laws set down in the same instructions, or otherwise according
to former injunctions published by us heretofore concerning
causes ecclesiastical.
Wherefore we will and command all and singular our justices
of peace . . . and all other our officers, ministers and subjects to
be aiding . . . you in the due execution of this our commission
as they tender our pleasure and will answer to the contrary at
their uttermost perils,
[Dated] Westminster, June 13.
Patent Roll, 21 Eliz. part 7.
29. Proceedings in connexion with the appointment of a hishoj).
(i) The conge d'elire.
De licentia eligendi pro episcopo Eliensi.
Eegina, &c., dilectis nobis decano et capitulo ecclesiae nostrae
cathedralis Eliensis salutem. Cum ecclesia nostra cathedralis
jDraedicta per legitimam inde remotionem Thomae ultimi
episcopi ibidem jam sit pastoris solatio destituta, Nos alium
vobis eligendi in episcopum et pastorem licentiam per prae-
sentes duximus concedendam, mandantes quod talem vobis
eligatis in episcopum et pastorem, qui sacraium literarum
cognitione ad id munus aptus, Deo devotus, nobisque et regno
nostro utilis et fidelis ecclesiaeque praedictae necessarius
existat.
In cujus rei, &c.
Teste Eegina apud Westmonasterium xviii die Julii [1559]-
Mymer^s Fcedera, XV. p. 537.
(2) Becommendation of a bishop.
By the Queen.
Elizabeth.
Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. Whereas the
bishopric of Hereford is now void by the death of the late
incumbent of the same, we let you wit that, calling to our
remembrance the virtue, learning and other good qualities of
our trusty and well-beloved Herbert Westphaling, D.D., we
have thought good, by these our letters, to name and recommend
1558-.] Appointment of Bishops. 243
him unto you to be elected and cliosen to the said bishopric
of Hereford. Wherefore we require and pray you forthwith,
upon the receipt hereof, to proceed to your election, according
to the laws of this our realm and our conge d'elire sent unto
you herewith, and the same election so made to certify unto us
under your common seal. Given under our signet at our
manor of Richmond, the 25rd day of November, 1585, in the
twenty-eighth year of our reign. Strype's Wkitgi/t, I. p. 466.
(3) Oath of allegiance and homage of a bishop elect.
Apud Westmr. [blank] die Februarii, 1559.
I Matthew Parker, doctor of divinity, now elect archbishop
of Canterbury, do utterly testify and declare in my conscience
[&c. as in the Act of Supremacy, § ix] . . . the imperial crown of
this i-ealm. And furtlier I acknowledge and confess to have
and to hold the said archbishopi'ic of Canterbury and the
possessions of the same entirely, as well the spiritualities as
'temporalities thereof, only of your Majesty and crown royal of
this your realm ; and for the said possessions I do mine homage
presently unto your Highness, and to the same, your heirs aud
lawful successors, shall be faithful and true: so help me God
and by the contents of this book.
State Papers {domestic), Eliz. ii. 23.
(4) Command to consecrate a hishoj).
Significavit pro Eliensi episcopo.
Regina, &c., reverendissimo in Christo Patri, Domino
Mathaeo Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi, totius Angliae Primati et
Metropolitano, salutem. Cum, vacante nuper sede episcopali
Eliensi per legitimam deprivationem ultimi episcopi ejusdem,
ad humilem petitionem Decani et Capituli ecclesiae nostrae
cathedralis Eliensis praedictae, eisdem jier literas nostras
patentes licentiam concesserimus alium sibi eligendi in epis-
copum et pastorem sedis praedictae ; iidemque Decanus et
Capitulum, vigore et obtentu licentiae nostrae praedictae, dilec-
tum nobis in Christo magistrum Ricardum Coxe, sacra
B 2
244 Elizabeth. [isss-.
theologiae professorein, sibi et ecclesiae praedictae elegerunt
in episcopum et pastorem, prout per literas suas patentes,
sigillo eorum communi sigillatas, nobis inde directas plenius
liquet et apparet : Nos electionem illam acceptantes eidem
electioni regium nostrum assensum adhibuimus pariter et
favorera, et hoc vobis tenore praesentium significamus ; ro-
gantes ac in fide et dilectione quibus nobis tenemini firmiter
praecipiendo mandantes, quatenus eundem magistrum Ricardum
Coxe, in episcopum et pastorem ecclesiae cathedralis Eliensis
praedictae sic ut praefertur electum, electionemque praedictam
confirmare, et eundem magistrum Eicardum Coxe episcopum
et pastorem ecclesiae praedictae consecrare, caeteraque omnia
et singula peragere, quae vestro in hac parte incumbunt officio
pastorali, juxta formam et effectum statutorum in ea parte
editorum et provisorum, velitis cum efFectu.
In cujus rei, &c.
Teste Regina apud Westraonasterium xviii die Decembris
[^559]* Bymer's Foedera, XV. p. 552.
(5) Restitution of temporalities.
[Episcopatu] Eliensi per deprivationem vacante.
Regina escaetori suo in comitatu Cantabrigiae salutem.
Vacante nuper episcopatu Eliensi per deprivationem Tbomae
Tburlbie ultimi episcopi ibidem, Decanus et Capitulum ecclesiae
cathedralis Eliensis praedictae, licentia nostra petita pariter et
obtenta, dilectum capellanum nostrum Ricardum Coxe, sacrae
theologiae professorem, in eorum episcopum et pastorem elege-
runt. Cui quidem electioni et persouae sic electae regium
assensum nostrum adhibuimus et favorem, ipsiusque fidelitatem
nobis debitam pro dicto episcopatu recepimus, ac temporalia
ejusdem episcopatus (exceptis omnibus manei'iis . . . modo in
manus nostras vigore cujusdam actus ^ anno regni nostri primo
inde nuper editi et provisi electis et captis . . .) ei restituimus
per praesentes.
Et ideo tibi praecipimus quod praefato electo temporalia
praedicta cum pertinentiis (exceptis praeexceptis) in balliva
tua, una cum exitibus et proficuis inde provenientibus sive
* 1 Eliz. 19. § I.
1558-.] Anglican and Presbyterian positions. 345
crescentibus, a festo sancti Michaelis Archangeli ultimo praete-
rito sine dilatione liberes ; salvo jure cujuslibet. Teste Regiiia
apud "Westmonasterium vicesimo tertio die Martii [1560].
. . . Et maudatum est militibus, liberis hominibus et omnibus
aliis tenentibus de episcopatu Eliensi praedicto, quod eidem
electo, tanquam episcopo et domino suo, in omnibus quae ad
episcopatum praedictum pertinent, iutendentes siut et respon-
dentes prout decet.
In cujus rei, &c.
Teste ut supra. Rymer's Fcedera, XV. p. 575.
II. Extracts from Ecclesiastical Writers.
The A njlican and Presbyterian positions.
(i) Extracts from Hookers ' Laius of Ecclesiastical Polity.'
[i.] The plain intent of the Book of Ecclesiastical Discipline ^
is to shew that men may not devise laws of church government,
but are bound for ever to use and to execute only those which
God himself hath already devised and delivered in the scripture.
The self-same drift the Admonitioners also had, in urging that
nothing ought to be done in the Church according unto any law
of man's devising, but all according to that which God in his
word hath commanded . . . Demand of them, wherefore they
conform not themselves unto the order of our Church, and in
every particular their answer for the most part is, ' We find no
such thing commanded in the word.' [Bk. II. ch. vii.J
[2.] Touching points of doctrine, as for example the Unity of
God, . . . they have been since the first hour that there was
a Church in the world, and till the last they must be believed.
But as for matters of regiment, they are for the most part of
another nature. To make new articles of faith and doctrine no
man thinketh it lawful ; new laws of government what common-
wealth or church is there which maketh not either at one time
or another 1 . . , There is no reason in the world wherefore we
should esteem it as necessary always to do, as always to believe
the same things ; seeing every man knoweth that the matter of
* ' A full and plain Declaration of Ecclesiastical Discipline, &c.,' by
Travers, with a preface by Cartwright, was printed (in Latin) in 1574 and
republished (in English) in 1584 {Strype, Annals, vi. 413).
246 Elizabeth. [1558-.
faith is constant, the matter contrariwise of action daily change-
able, especially the matter of action belonging unto church
polity. [Bk. III. eh. x.]
[3.] Let not any man imagine, that ihe bare and naked
difference of a few ceremonies could either have kindled so
much fire, or have caused it to flame so long; but that the
parties which herein laboured mightily for change and (as they
say) for reformation, had somewhat more than this mark only
whereat to aim. Having therefore drawn out a complete form,
as they supposed, of j)ublic service to be done to God, and set
down their plot for the office of the ministry in that behalf,
they very well knew how little their labours so far forth
bestowed would avail them in the end, without a claim of
jurisdiction to ujjhold the fabric which they had erected ; and
this neither likely to be obtained but by the strong hand of the
people, nor the people unlikely to favour it ; the more if over-
ture were made of their own interest, right and title thereunto.
[Bk. VI. ch. ii.]
[4.] This we boldly set down as a most infallible truth, that
the Church of Christ is at this day lawfully, and so hath been
since the first beginning, governed by bishops, having permanent
superiority and ruling power over other ministers of the word and
sacraments . . . Let us not fear to be herein bold and peremptory,
that, if anything in the Church's government, surely the first
institution of bishops was from heaven, was even of God : the
Holy Ghost was the author of it. [Bk. VII. ch. iii, v.]
[5.] The drift of all that hath been alleged to prove perpetual
separation and independency between the Church and the
Commonwealth is, that this being held necessary, it might
consequently be thought, that in a Christian kingdom, he
whose power is greatest over the Commonwealth may not
lawfully have supremacy of j)0Aver also over the Church . . .
Whereupon it is grown a question whether power ecclesiastical
over the Church, power of dominion in such degree as the laws
of this land do grant unto the sovereign governor thereof, may
by the said supreme Head and Governor lawfully be enjoyed
and held 1 . . . Unto which supreme power in kings two kinds
of adversaries there are that have opposed themselves ; one
sort defending ' that sujprenie power in causes ecclesiastical
1558-.] The Presbyterian system. 247
throughout the world appertaineth of divine right to the bishop
of Rome,' another sort ' that the said power belongeth in every
national Church unto the clergy thereof assembled.' We defend
as well against the one as the other, ' that kings within their
own precincts may have it.' [Bk. VIII. ch. ii.]
(2) Extracts from Bancroft's ^Dangerous Positions.'
[Cap. I.] For the first ten or eleven years of her Majesty's
reign, through the . . . outcries and exclamations of those that
came home from Geneva, against the garments prescribed to
ministers and other such like matters, no man of any experience
is ignorant what great contention and strife was raised . . .
About the twelfth year of her Highness' government, these
malcontents . . . began to stir up new quarrels, concerning the
Geneva discipline . . . Hereupon (tlie 14 of her Majesty) two
Admonitions were framed, and exhibited to the High Court of
Parliament. The first contained their pretended griefs, with
a declaration, forsooth, of the only way to reform them, viz.
by admitting of that platform which was there described.
This Admonition finding small entertainment, (the authors or
chief preferrers thereof being imprisoned), out cometh the
Second Admonition, towards the end of the same parliament . . .
In this Second Admonition, the first is wholly justified, . . . and
in plain terms it is there affirmed that, if they of that assembly
would not then follow the advice of the First Admonition, they
would surely themselves be their own carvers . . . Whereupon,
presently after the said parliament (viz. the 20th of November,
1572), there was a presbytery erected at Wandsworth in Surrey.
[Cap. III.] . . . Hitherto it should seem that in all their
former proceedings they had relied chiefly upon the First Ad-
monition and Cartwright's book . . . But now, at the length
(about the year 1583), the form of discipline, which is lately
come to light, was compiled : and thereupon an assembly or
council being held (as I think at London, or at Cambridge),
certain decrees were made concerning the establishing and the
practice thereof . . .
[Cap. v.] . . . About which time also [viz. 1587] . . . the
further practice of the discipline . . . began to spread itself more
248 Elizabeth. [i558-.
freely ; . . . but especially ... it was most friendly entertained
among the ministers of Northamptonshire, as it appeareth in
record by some of their own depositions, i6th of May, 1590, in
these words following. About two years and a half since, the
whole shire was divided into three Classes. I. The Classis of
Northamptonshire ... II. The Classis of Daventry side . . .
III. The Classis of Kettering side . . . This device (saith Master
Johnson) is commonly received in most parts of England, . . .
but especially in Warwickshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, &c.
[Cap. VI.] The next year after, viz. 1588, the said Warwick-
shire classes, &c. assembling themselves together in council (as it
seemeth, at Coventry), . . . there was ... a great approbation
obtained of the aforesaid Book of Discipline . . . This book,
having thus at the last received this great allowance more
authentically, was carried far and near, for a general ratification
of all the brethren . . .
[Cap. XIII.] . . . ^ Mutual conference is to be practised in the
Church by common assemblies . . . Such as are to meet in the
assemblies, let them be chosen by the suffrages of those churches
or assemblies that have interest or to do in it, and out of these
let such only be chosen as have exercised the public office in
that church either of a minister or of an elder . . .
It shall be lawful for other elders and ministers, yea, and for
deacons and students in divinity, by the a^jpointment of the
assembly ... to be both pi'esent, and to be asked their
judgments . . . Yet let none be counted to have a voice, but
those only that were chosen by the Church . . .
It is expedient that in every ecclesiastical assembly there be
a president, which may govern the assembly, and that he be
from time to time changed . . . The assemblies according to
their several kinds, if they be greater are of more, if they be
less, they are of less aiithority. Therefore it is lawful to appeal
from a less assembly to a greater . . .
Assemblies are either Classes or Synods.
Classes are conferences of the fewest ministers of churches,
standing near together, as for example of twelve. The chosen
men of all the several churches of that assembly are to meet in
^ What follows is translated by Bancroft from the BooJc of Discipline.
1558-.] The Presbyterian system. 249
conference : that is to say, for every church a minister and an
elder : and they shall meet every fortnight. They shall chiefly
endeavour the oversight and censure of that Classis . . .
A Synod is an assembly of chosen men from more churches
than those that be in one Classis or conference.
In these, the articles of the holy discipline and synodical
must always be read ; also in them . . . censures or inquisition
made upon all that be present . . .
Of Synods there be two sorts : the first is particular, and
this containeth under it, both Provincial and National Synods.
A Provincial Synod is an assembly of those which be dele-
gated from all the Classes or Conferences of that province. Let
every province contain in it 24 Classes . . . Let every Classis
send unto the Provincial Synod two ministers and as many
elders. It shall be called every half year, or more often, until
the discipline be confirmed . . .
Let the acts of all the Provincial Synods be sent unto the
National . . .
The National is a Synod consisting of the delegates from all
the Synods Provincial that are within the dominion of one
commonwealth . . .
For the National Synod, three ministers and three elders
must be chosen out of every Synod Provincial.
In it the common affairs of all the churches of the whole
nation and kingdom are to be handled : as of doctrine, discipline
and ceremonies, causes not decided in inferior assemblies,
appellations and such like . . .
. . . Now follows the universal or Oecumenical Synod of the
whole world. And this is the Synod that consisteth and is
gathered together of the chosen men out of every particular
national Synod.
REIGN OF JAMES THE FIRST.
L—STATUTES.
First Parliament : First Session.
March 19— July 7, 1604.
I Jac. I. Cap. I.
A most joyful and just recognition of the immediate, lawful and
undoubted Succession, Descent and Right of the Crown.
Great and manifold were the benefits, most dread and most
gracious Sovereign, wherewith Almighty God blessed this
kingdom and nation by the happy union and conjunction of
the two noble houses of York and Lancaster, thereby preserving
this noble realm, formerly torn and almost wasted with long
and miserable dissension and bloody civil war; but more
inestimable and unspeakable blessings are thereby poured upon
us, because there is derived and groAvn from and out of that
union of those two princely families, a more famous and greater
union, or rather a reuniting, of two mighty, famous and
ancient kingdoms (yet anciently but one) of England and
Scotland, under one imperial crown, in your most royal
person . . . We therefore, your most humble and loyal subjects,
the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this
present Parliament assembled, do from the bottom of our hearts
yield to the Divine Majesty all humble thanks and praises, not
only for the said unspeakable and inestimable benefits and
blessings above mentioned, but also that he hath further
enriched your Highness with a most royal progeny, of most
rare and excellent gifts and forwardness, and in his goodness
is likely to increase the happy number of them : and in most
1604.] Succession: Union with Scotland. 251
humble and lowly manner do beseech your most excellent Majesty,
that (as a memorial to all posterities, amongst the records of
your High Court of Parliament for ever to endui^e, of our
loyalty, obedience and hearty and humble affection), it may be
published and declared in this High Court of Parliament, and
enacted by authority of the same, That we (being bounden there-
unto both by the laws of God and man) do recognize and
acknowledge (and thereby express our unspeakable joys) that
immediately upon the dissolution and decease of Elizabeth, late
Queen of England, the imperial crown of the realm of England,
and of all the kingdoms, dominions and rights belonging to the
same, did, by inherent birthright and lawful and undoubted suc-
cession, descend and come to your most excellent Majesty, as
being lineally, justly and lawfully next and sole heir of the
blood royal of this realm as is aforesaid ; and that by the
goodness of God Almighty and lawful right of descent, under
one imperial crown, your Majesty is of the realms and king-
doms of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, the most
l^otent and mighty King ...
I Jac. I. Cap. II.
An Act authorizing certain Commissioners of the realm of
England to treat with Commissioners of Scotland, for the
weal ofbotli kingdoms.
Whereas his most excellent Majesty hath been pleased, out
of his great wisdom and judgment, not only to I'epresent unto
us by his own prudent and princely speech on the first day
of this Parliament, how much he desired, in regard of his in-
ward and gracious affection to both the famous and ancient
realms of England and Scotland, now united in allegiance and
loyal subjection in his royal person to his Majesty and his
posterities for ever, that by a speedy, mature and sound
deliberation such a further union might follow, as should make
perfect that mutual love and uniformity of manners and customs
which Almighty God in his providence for the strength and
safety of both realms hath already so far begun in apparent
sight of all the world, but also hath vouchsafed to express many
ways how far it is and ever shall be from his royal and sincere
253 James I. [1604.
care and affection to the subjects of England to alter and
innovate the fundamental and ancient laws, privileges and
good customs of this kingdom, whereby not only his regal
authority but the people's security . . . are preserved . . . :
forasmuch as his Majesty's humble, faithful and loving subjects
have not only conceived the weight of his Majesty's reasons, but
apprehend to their unspeakable joy and comfort his plain . . . in-
tention to seek no other changes, but of' such particular, tem-
porary or indifferent manner of statutes and customs as may both
prevent and extinguish all future questions or unhappy accidents,
by which the . . . friendship and quietness between the subjects
of both the realms aforesaid may be completed and confirmed,
and also accomplish that real and effectual union already inherent
in his Majesty's royal blood and person . . . : beit therefore enacted
by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the assent and
consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons
in this present Parliament assembled, and by authority of the
same. That Thomas Lord Ellesmere, Lord Chancellor of England
[and 43 others named], commissioners selected and nomin-
ated by authority of this present Parliament, or any eight or
more of the said lords of the said higher house and any
twenty or more of the said knights, citizens and burgesses of
the said house of the commons, shall . . . have full power . . .
before the next session of this Pai'liament, to . . . treat and
consult with certain selected commissioners to be nominated and
authorized by authority of Parliament of the realm of Scotland
. . . concerning such an union of the said realms of England
and Scotland . . . ; which commissioners of both the said realms
shall . . . reduce their doings and proceedings therein into
writings or instruments, . . . that thereupon such further pro-
ceedings may be had as by both the said parliaments shall be
thought fit and necessary for the weal and common good of both
the said realms.
I Jac. I. Cap. IV.
An Act for the clue execution of the Statutes against Jesuits,
/Seminary Priests, Recusants, ^-c.
For the better and more due execution of the Statutes hereto-
1604.] Jesuits: Rogues and Vagabonds. 253
fore made, as well against Jesuits, Seminary Priests, and other
such-like priests, as also against all manner of recusants ;
be it enacted, That all the statutes heretofore made in the
reign of the late Queen of famous memory, Elizabeth, as well
against Jesuits, Seminary Priests, and other priests, deacons,
religious and ecclesiastical persons whatsoever, made ... or to
be made ... by any authority and jurisdiction derived, chal-
lenged or pretended from the See of Eome, as those which do
in any wise concern the withdrawing of the King's subjects
from their due obedience and the religion now professed, and
the taking of the oath of obedience unto the King's Majestj-,
his heirs and successors, together with all those made in the
said late Queen's time against any manner of recusants, shall
be put in due and exact execution.
I Jac. I. Cap. VIL
An Act for the continuance, and explanation of the Statute made in
the thirty -ninth year of the reign of our late Queen Elizabeth,
entitled an Act for 2)unishment of rogues, vagabonds and
sturdy beggars.
I. Whereas by a Statute made in the 39th year of the reign
of the late Queen Elizabeth, intituled [&c.], it was enacted that
all persons calling themselves scholars going about begging
[&c., &c.] shall be taken as rogues, vagabonds and sturdy
beggars, and shall suffer such punishment as in the said Act is
appointed : since the making of which act divers doubts aud
questions have been moved . . . upon the letter of the said Act ;
for a plain declaration whereof be it enacted. That from hence-
forth no authority to be given or made by any baron of this
realm or any other honourable personage of greater degree
. . . shall be available to free and discharge the said persons
from the pains and punishments in the said Statute men-
tioned . . .
III. And whereas by the said Statute ... it was further
enacted^ [&c., &c.], which branch of the said Statute is taken
to be somewhat defective, for that the said rogues having
no mark upon them . . . may return or retire themselves
1 39 Eliz. 4. § 2. '39 Eliz. 4. § 4.
254 James I. [i604,
into some otlier parts of this realm where they are not known,
and so escape the due punishments . , . : for remedy whereof
he it enacted, That such rogues as shall ... be adjudged as
aforesaid incorrigil>le or dangerous shall also by the judg-
ments of the same justices ... be branded in the left shoulder
with a great Uoman R upon the iron, . . . that the letter R be
seen and remain for a perpetual mark upon such rogue during
his or her life ; and ... if any rogue so punished shall offend
again, . . . the party so offending . . . shall suffer as in cases of
felony, without benefit of clergy . . .
IV. And be it further enacted, That . . . every person shall
apprehend such rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars as he
shall see or know to resort to their houses to beg, . . . and them
shall carry to the next constable or tithingman, upon pain to
forfeit for every default los. . . .
VII. Provided that this present Act shall continue but until
the end of the next Parliament ^
I Jac. I. Cap. VIIL
An Act to take away the Benefit of Clergy from some kind
of Manslaughter.
I. To the end that stabbing and killing men on the sudden . . .
may from henceforth be restrained through fear of due punishment
to be inflicted on such . . . malefactors who heretofore have been
thereunto emboldened by presuming on the benefit of clergy ;
be it therefore enacted . . . That every person which . . . shall
stab or thrust any person that hath not then any weapon drawn
or that hath not then first stricken the party, ... so as the
person . . . shall thereof die within the space of six months, . . .
shall be excluded from the benefit of his clergy and suffer death
as in case of wilful murder. . . .
I Jac. I. Cap. XIII.
An Act for new executions to he sued against any rvhich shall
hereafter he delivered out of execution hy privilege of Parlia-
ment, and for discharge of them out of whose custody such
2)ersons shall be delivered.
I. Forasmuch as heretofore doubt hath been made if any
^ Confirmed by 31 Jac. I. 28. § i.
1604.] Privilege : Marriage of Clergy. 1$^
person being arrested in execution and by privilege of either of
the houses of parliament set at liberty, whether the party at
whose suit such execution was pursued be for ever after barred
and disabled to sue forth a new writ of execution in that case :
for the avoiding of all further doubt and ti'ouble which in like
cases may hereafter ensue, be it enacted . . . That from hence-
forth the party at or by whose suit such writ of execution was
pursued, his executors or administrators, after such time as the
privilege of that session of parliament in which such privilege
shall be so granted shall cease, may sue forth and execute a new
writ or writs of execution in such manner as by the law of this
realm he might have done if no such former execution had been
taken forth or served; and that from henceforth no sherifF,
bailiif or other officer, from whose arrest or custody any such
person so arrested in execution shall be delivered by any such
privilege, shall be charged or chargeable ... for delivering out
of execution any such privileged person so as is aforesaid by
such privilege of parliament set at liberty ; any law custom or
privilege heretofore to the contrary notwithstanding. Provided
always that this Act or anything therein contained shall not
extend to the diminishing of any punishment to be hereafter by
censure in parliament inflicted upon any person which here-
after shall make or procure to be made any such arrest as is
aforesaid.
I Jac. I. Cap. XXV.
An Act for continuing and reviving of divers Statutes, and for
repealing of some others.
VIII. And be it enacted that [Stat, i Mary (2). 2] shall stand
repealed ; and that [Stat. 2 & 3 Edw. VI. 21], entitled an Act to
take away all positive laws made against the marriage of priests,
and [Stat. 5 & 6 Edw. VI. 12], entitled an Act made for declara-
tion of a statute made for the marriage of priests and for the legiti-
mation of their children, shall stand revived and be in force for
ever; . . . and the children of ecclesiastical persons in the said
Act mentioned shall be legitimate and inheritable to all intents
and purposes in such sort as children of lay persons do enjoy
and may inherit ; any canon or constitution to the contrary
notwithstanding.
256 James I. [leoe.
First Parliament: Second Session.
Jan. 21— May 27, 1606.
3 & 4 Jac. I. Cap. IV.
All Act for the Letter discovering and re2)re88ing of Popish
Recusants.
I. Forasmuch as it is found by daily experience that . . . divers
persons popishl)^ affected do nevertheless, the better to cover and
hide their false hearts, and with the more safety to attend the
opportunity to execute their mischievous designs, repair some-
time to church to escape the penalties of the laws in that
behalf provided : for tlie better discovery therefore of such
persons and their evil affections to the King's Majesty and the
state of this his realm, to the end that being known their evil
purposes may be the better prevented ; be it enacted . . . That
every popish recusant convicted, . . . which heretofore hath con-
formed him or her self or which shall hereafter conform him or
her self and repair to the church . . . according to the laws and
statutes in that behalf made, shall, within the first year next
after the end of this session of parliament . . . and . . . once in
every year following at the least, receive the blessed sacrament
of the Lord's Supper in the church of that parish where he or
she shall most usually abide ; . . . and if any recusant so con-
formed shall not receive the said sacrament of the Lord's
Supper accordingly, he or she shall forfeit for the first year
X20, and for the second year . . . .£40, and for every year after
. . . X60, until he or she shall have received the said sacrament
as is aforesaid . . . ; the one moiety to be to our Sovereign Lord
the King's Majesty, his heirs and successors, and the other
moiety to him that will sue for the same . . .
II. And be it further enacted, That the churchwardens and
constables of every town, parish or chapel . . . shall once in
every year present the monthly absence from church of all
popish recusants within such towns and parishes, and . . . the
names of every of the children of the said recusants, being of
the age of nine years and upwards, abiding with their said
1606.] Popish Recusants: penalties. 257
parents, ... as also the names of the servants of such recusants,
at the general or quarter sessions of that shire [&c.].
III. And be it further enacted, That all such presentments
shall be . . . recorded in the said sessions by the clerk of the
peace or town-clerk . . .
IV. And be it further enacted, That the justices of assize and
gaol delivery at their assizes and the said justices of peace at
any their said sessions shall have power to enquire, hear and
determine of all recusants and offences, as well for not receiving
the sacrament ... as for not re})airing to church . . .
V. And be it further enacted. That every offender in not
repairing to divine service . . . shall . . . pay into the receipt of
the exchequer after the rate of £20 for every month ....
except in such cases where the King shall . . . take two parts
of the lauds [&c.] of such offender, till the said party . . . shall
conform himself and come to church . . . ; and if default shall
be made in any jxirt of any payment aforesaid, . . . that then
and so often the King's Majesty . . . may . . . seize and enjoy
all the goods and two parts ... of the lands [&c.] of such
offender . . .
VI. And whereas by an Act ^ made ... in the 23rd year of
the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth, intituled, an Act to retain
the subjects of the said late Queen in their due obedience, it
was amongst other things enacted, That every person above the
age of sixteen years which should not repair to some church,
chapel or usual place of common prayer, . . . contrary to the
tenour of a statute ^ made . . . for uniformity of common prayer,
and being thereof lawfully convicted, should forfeit unto the
said Queen for every month . . . £20 . . .; and whereas after-
wards by another Act ' of parliament of the said Queen it was
further enacted . . . That if default should be made in . . . pay-
ment of the said £20 . . . that then and so often the said Queen
should and might . . . take ... all tlie goods and two parts as
well of all the lands, tenements and hereditaments, leases and
farms of such offender . . . : now forasmuch as the said peiialty
of £20 monthly is a greater burden unto men of small living
than unto such as are of better ability . . . who, rather than
they will have two parts of their lands to be seized, will be
» 33 Eliz. I. § 4. M Eliz. 2. =" 29 Eliz. 6. § 4.
8
258 James I. [leoe.
ready always to pay the said ^20 , . . and yet retain the residue
of their livings and inheritance in their own hands ; . . . there-
fore to the intent that hereafter the penalty for not repairing
to divine service might he inflicted in better proportion upon
men of great ability, be it enacted, That the King's Majesty,
his heirs and successors, shall . . . have full power to refuse the
penalty of £20 a month . . . and thereupon to seize aud take to
his own use and the uses . . . hereafter limited, two parts in
three ... of all the lands [&c.], and the same to retain . . . till
every such offender shall conform him or her self . . .
VII. [The mansion-house of a recusant not to be included in
the two parts taken by the King.]
VIII. And for the better trial how his Majesty's subjects
stand affected in point of their loyalty and due obedience ; be it
also enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the
end of this present session of parliament, it shall be lawful for
any bishop in his diocese, or any two justices of the peace,
whereof one of them to be of the quorum, . . . out of the sessions,
to require any person of the age of 18 years or above, which
shall be convict or indicted for any recusancy (other than noble-
men or noblewomen) for not repairing to divine service accord-
ing to the laws of this realm, or which shall not have received
the said sacrament twice within the year then next past . . . ;
or any person passing through the country, shire or liberty,
and unknown (except as is last before excepted) that being
examined by them upon oath shall confess ... to be a recusant,
or shall confess . . . that he had not received the sacrament
twice within the year then last past, to take the oath hereafter
following upon the Holy Evangelists . . .
IX. And be it further enacted, That if any such person, other
than noblemen and noblewomen, shall refuse to answer upon
oath to such bishop or justices of peace examining him as
aforesaid, or to take the said oath so duly tendered ... by such
bishop or two such justices of peace out of sessions, that then
the said bishop or justices of peace shall commit the same
person to the common gaol . . . until the next assizes or general
or quarter sessions, . . . where the said oath shall be again in
the said open assizes or sessions lequired of such person by the
saidjusticesof assize or justices of peace; . . . and if the said person
1606.] Popish Recusants: Oath of Allegiance. 359
. . . shall refuse to take the said oath ... every person so
refusing shall incur tlie penalty of praemunire . . .
The tenour of which said oath hereafter followeth : I A. B. do
truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify and declare in
my conscience before God and the world, that our sovereign
lord King James is lawful and rightful King of this realm and
of all other his Majesty's dominions and countries ; and that
the Pope, neith^ of himself nor by any authority of the church
or See of Rome or by any other means with any other hath any
power or authority to depose the King, or to dispose any of his
Majesty's kingdoms or dominions, or to authorize any foreign
prince to invade or annoy him or his countries, or to discharge
any of his subjects of their allegiance and obedience to his
Majesty, or to give licence or leave to any of them to bear arms,
raise tumult or to offer any violence or hurt to his Majesty's
royal person, state or government or to any of his Majesty's
subjects within his Majesty's dominions. Also I do swear
from my heart that, notwithstanding any declaration or sentence
of excommunication or deprivation made or granted or to be
made or granted by the Pope or his successors or by any
authority derived or pretended to be derived from him or his
see against the said King, his heirs or successors, or any
absolution of the said subjects from their obedience, I will bear
faith and true allegiance to his Majesty, his heirs and successors,
and him or them will defend to the uttermost of my power
against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever, which shall
be made against his or their persons, their crown and dignity,
by reason or colour of any such sentence or declaration or
otherwise, and will do my best endeavour to disclose and make
known unto his Majesty, his heirs and successors, all treasons
and traitorous conspiracies, which I shall know or hear of to be
against him or any of them : and I do further swear that I do
from my heart abhor, detest and abjure, as impious and heretical,
this damnable doctrine and position, that princes which be
excommunicated or deprived by the Pope may be deposed or
murdered by their subjects or any other whatsoever : and I do
believe and in my conscience am resolved that neither the Pope
nor any person whatsoever hath power to absolve me of this
oath or any part thereof, which I acknowledge by good and full
s 2
26o James I. [leoe.
authority to be lawfully ministered unto me, and do renounce all
pardons and dispensations to the contrary : and all these things
I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear, according to
these express words by me spoken and according to the plain
and common sense and understanding of the same words,
without any equivocation or mental evasion or secret reserva-
tion whatsoever : and I do make this recognition and acknow-
ledgment heartily, willingly and truly, upon the true faith of
a Christian : so help me God. Unto which oath so taken, the
said person shall subscribe his or her name or mark.
XII. And forasmuch as it is found . . . that such as go
voluntarily out of this realm of England to serve foreign princes
. . . are for the most part perverted in their religion and loyalty
by Jesuits and fugitives, ... be it therefore enacted, That every
subject of this realm that . . . shall go out of this realm to ser-ve
any foreign prince, . . . not having, before his going as aforesaid,
taken the oath aforesaid, . . . shall be a felon . . .
XIV. And further be it enacted, That if any person . . . shall
. . . put in practice to . . . withdraw any of the subjects of the
King's Majesty . . . from their natural obedience to his Majesty . . .
or to reconcile them to the Pope or See of Eome . . . that then
every such person, their procurers [&c.] . . . shall be to all
intents adjudged traitors and being thereof lawfully convicted
shall have judgment, suffer and forfeit as in cases of high treason ;
and if any such person as aforesaid . . . shall be . . . absolved or
withdrawn as aforesaid or willingly reconciled . . . that then every
such person, their procurers [&c.] . . . shall be to all intents
adjudged traitors and . . . suffer and forfeit as in cases of high
treason.
XVII. [Peers to be tried by Peers.]
XVIIL And be it further enacted. That if any subject of this
realm . . . shall not repair every sunday to some church, chapel
or Fome other usual place appointed for common prayer, and
there hear divine service according to the statute ' made in that
behalf, in the fii"st year of the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth,
that then it shall be lawful for any one justice of peace of that
limit wherein the said party shall dwell, upon proof unto him
made of such default by confession of the party or oath of
* I Eliz. 2 : 23 Eliz. i. § 4.
1606.] Popish Recusants: penalties. 261
witness, to call the said party before him ; and if he sliall not
make a sufficient excuse and due proof thereof, to the satis-
faction of the said justice of peace, that it shall be lawful for
the said justice of peace to give warrant to the churchwarden
of the said parish wherein the said party shall dwell ... to
levy 1 2d. for every such default, by distress and sale of the
goods of every such offender . . . ; and that in default of such
distress it shall be lawful for the said justice of peace to
commit eveiy such offender to some prison within the said
shire . . . wherein such offender shall be inhabiting, until pay-
ment be made of the said sum so to be forfeited ; which
forfeiture shall be employed for the use of the poor of that
parish wherein the offender shall be resident . . .
XIX. And because in one Act^ of parliament ... in the 35th
year of the late Queen Elizabeth, intituled [&c.], there are two
branches [clauses 5 and 6 are here recited], which said two
branches are found defective ; be it therefore enacted, That the
said two branches . . . shall be . . . repealed and made void, and
in lieu thereof be it enacted, That every person which . . .
shall willingly maintain ... in his house any servant, sojourner
or stranger who shall not go to some church or chapel, or usual
place of common prayer to hear divine service ... by the space
of one month together, not having a reasonable excuse, . . . shall
forfeit <£io for every month that he shall so . . . harbour any
such servant [&c.] . . . ; and that every person which shall . . .
keep in his service, fee or livery any person which shall not go
to some church [&c. as before] shall forfeit for every month
. . .£10 . . .
XXII. And be it further enacted, That every offence to be
committed against this present Act may be . . . determined
before the justices of the King's Bench, justices of assize and
gaol-delivery . . . ; and all offences other than treason shall be
. . . determined before the justices of peace in their general or
quarter sessions . . .
XXV. Provided always. That this Act nor anything therein
contained shall extend to take away or abridge the authority or
jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical censures for any matter, but
that the commissioners of his Majesty ... in causes eccle-
1 35Eliz. I. §§5, 6.
262 James I. [leoe.
siastical . . . and the archbishops, bishops and other ecclesiastical
judges may proceed as before the making of this Act they law-
fully did or might have done . . .
XXVII. Provided also . . . That in all cases where any
bishop or justices of the peace may . . . require of any subject
the oath above-mentioned, that the lords of the Privy Council
... or any six of them, whereof the Lord Chancellor, the Lord
Treasurer or the Principal Secretary for the time to be one,
shall have full power ... to require the said oaths before-
mentioned of any nobleman or noblewoman, then being above
the age of eighteen. years ; and if any such . . . shall refuse to
take such oaths, that in every such case such nobleman or
noblewoman shall incur the pain and danger of a praemunire . . .
3 & 4 Jac. I. Cap. V.
An Act to frevent and avoid dangers which may grow by Pojnsh
recusants.
I. Whereas divers Jesuits, Seminaries and Popish priests
daily do withdraw many of his Majesty's subjects from the true
service of Almighty God and the religion established within
this realm to the Eomish religion and from their loyal obedience
to his Majesty, and have of late secretly persuaded divers
recusants and Papists ... to commit most damnable treasons,
tending to the overthrow of God's true religion, the destruction
of his Majesty and his royal issue, and the overthrow of the
whole state and commonwealth, if God of his goodness and
mercy had not within few hours before the intended time of
the execution thereof revealed and disclosed the same ; where-
fore to discover and prevent such secret damnable conspiracies
and treasons as hereafter may be put in ure by such evil-
disposed persons, if remedy be not therefore provided ; be it
enacted . . . That such person as shall first discover to any
justice of peace any recusant or other person which shall enter-
tain or relieve any Jesuit, Seminary or Popish priest, or shall
discover any mass to have been said and the persons that were
present at such mass and the priest that said the same, within
three days next after the offence committed, and that by reason
of such discovery any of the said offenders be taken and con-
1606.] Popish Recusants: residence. 263
victed or attainted, that then the j)erson which hath made such
discovery shall not only be freed from the penalty of any law
for such offence, if he he an offender therein, but also have
the third part of the forfeiture of all such sums of money . . .
which shall be forfeited by such offence, so as the same total
forfeiture exceed not the sum of £150, and if it exceed the sum
of £150 the said person . . . shall have the sum of £50 .^. .
II. And whereas the repair of such evil-affected persons to
the court or to the city of London may be very dangerous to
his Majesty's person, and may give them more liberty to meet,
consult and plot their treasons and practices against the state
than if they should be restrained and confined unto their private
houses in the country ; for remedy hereof be it enacted, That
no Popish recusant convicted shall come into the court or house
where the King's Majesty or his heir apparent to the crown of
England shall be, unless he be commanded so to do by the
King's Majesty, his heirs or successors, or by warrant in writing
from the lords and others of the most honourable Privy Council,
. , . upon pain to forfeit for every time so offending £100, the
one moiety to the King's Majesty, his heirs and successors, the
other moiety to him that will discover and sue for the same . . , :
and that all Popish recusants indicted or convicted and all
other persons which have not repaired to some usual church or
chapel and there heard divine service ... by the space of three
months last past, . . . dwelling within the city of London or the
liberties thereof or within ten miles of the said city, shall within
three months next after the end of this session of parliament
depart from the said city of London and ten miles compass of
the same, . . . upon pain that every person offending herein shall
forfeit to our Sovereign Lord the King's Majesty, his heirs and
successors, the sum of £100 . . .
III. Provided always, That such person or persons as now i;se
any trade, mystery or manual occupation within the said city of
London or within ten miles of the same, and such as have
their only dwelbng within the said city or ten miles compass of
the same, not having any other place of abode elsewhere, may
remain in such place within the said city or ten miles of the
same as they have dwelled in by the space of three months next
before this present session of parliament . . .
264 James I. [16O6.
IV. [Stat. 35 EHz. 2. §§ I, 2 confirmed; § 7 (of licences to
traA'el beyond five miles, to be granted by two justices of the
peace and certain others) repealed.]
V. [Such licences may be granted by the King or three of the
Privy Council without cause assigned, or by four justices of the
peace for cause assigned on oath.]
VI. And he it further enacted, That no recusant convict
shall at any time after the end of this session of parliament
practise the common law of this realm as a counsellor, clerk,
attorney or solicitor in the same, nor shall practise the civil
law as advocate or proctor ; nor practise physic, nor exercise or
use the trade or art -of an apothecary \ nor shall be judge,
minister, clerk or steward in any court, or keep any court, nor
shall be register or town-clerk or other minister or officer in
any court ; nor shall bear any office or charge as captain,
lieutenant, corporal, sergeant, ancient-bearer or other office in
camp, troop, band or company of soldiers ; nor shall be captain,
master, governor, or bear any office or charge in any ship,
castle or fortress of the King's Majesty's, his heirs and suc-
cessors ; . . . and every person offending herein shall also forfeit
for every such offence <£ioo . . .
VII. And be it also enacted. That no Popish recusant convict
nor any having a wife being a Popish recusant convict shall . . .
exercise any public office in the commonwealth, but shall be
utterly disabled to exercise the same by himself or by his
deputy, except such husband himself and his children which
shall be above the age of nine years abiding with him and his
servants in household shall once every month at the least, not
having any reasonable excuse to the contrary, repair to some
church or chapel usual for divine service and there hear divine
service ; and the said husband and such his children and servants
as are of meet age receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper,
at such times as are limited by the laws of this realm, and do
bring up his said children in true religion.
VIII. And be it also enacted. That every married woman
being a Popish recusant convicted (her husband not standing
convicted of Popish recusancy), which shall not conform herself
... by the space of one whole year next before the death of her
said husband, shall forfeit to the King's Majesty . . . the issues
1606.] Popish Recusants: disabilities, &c. 265
and profits of two parts of her jointure and two parts of her
dower, , . . and also be disabled to be executrix or administratrix
of her said husband, and to have . . . any part of her said
late husband's goods and chattels . . .
IX. And be it further enacted, That every Popish recusant
. . . shall stand . . . disabled as a person lawfully and duly
excommunicated, . . . and that every person sued by such person
so disabled shall plead the same in disabling of such plaintiff,
as if he were excommunicated by sentence in the ecclesiastical
court [actions prosecuted by such recusant concerning his real
property only excepted].
X, And ... be it further enacted, That every man being
a Popish recusant convicted, or who shall be hereafter married
otherwise than in some open church or chapel and otherwise
than according to the orders of the Church of England by
a minister lawfully authorised, shall be utterly disabled to have
any estate of freehold in any the lands [&c.] of his wife as
tenant by the curtesy of England ; and that every woman being
a Popish recusant convicted and who shall be hereafter married
in other form than as aforesaid shall be utterly disabled not
only to claim any dower of the inheritance of her husband
... or any jointure of the lands [&c.] of her husband or any of
his ancestors, but also of her widow's estate and frank-bank in
any customary lands whereof her husband died seised, and
likewise be disabled to have any part of the goods of her said
husband by virtue of any custom . . . : and if any such man be
married with any woman contrary to . . . this Act, which
woman hath no lands [&c.] whereof he may be entitled to be
tenant by the curtesy, then such man . . . shall forfeit £100 ... :
and that every Popish recusant which shall hereafter have any
child born shall within one month . . . cause the same child to
be baptized by a lawful minister according to the laws of this
realm in the open church, . . . upon pain that the father ... or, if
he be dead, then the mother of such child shall . . . forfeit £100 . . . :
and if any Popish recusant man or woman, not being excom-
municate, shall be buried in any place other than in the
church or churchyard or not according to the ecclesiastical laws
of this realm, that the executors . . . shall forfeit the sum of
£20 . . .
266 James I. [leoe.
XT. And be it further enacted, That if the children of any
subject within this realm (the said cliildren not being soldiers,
mariners, merchants or their apprentices or factors), to prevent
their good education in England or for any other cause, shall
hereafter be sent or go beyond seas without licence of the
King's Majesty or six of his honourable Privy Council, whereof
the Principal Secretary to be one, . . . that then every such child
shall take no benefit by any gift, conveyance, descent, devise or
otherwise of any lands'. . . goods or chattels, until he, being of
the age of eighteen years or above, take the oath mentioned in
an Act of parliament ' made this present session, intituled [&c.],
before some justice of peace of the county . . . ; and that in the
meantime the next of kin which shall be no Popish recusant
shall have and enjoy the said lands [&c.] until such time as the
person so sent or gone beyond the seas shall conform him or
her self and take the aforesaid oath and i-eceive the sacrament
of the Lord's Supper . . .
XII. And for that many subjects of this realm . . . are of late
gone beyond the seas without licence . . . , be it further enacted,
That if any of the said persons . . . shall not within six months
next after their return into this realm, then being of the age of
eighteen years or more, take the oath above specified . . . ,
every such offender shall take no benefit by any gift . . . devise
or otherwise of any lands . . . goods or chattels, until he . . .
take the said oath ; and that likewise in the meantime the next
of kin . . , which shall be no Popish recusant shall enjoy the
said lands [&c.] . . .
XIII. And be it further enacted, That every person that
is a Popish recusant convict, during the time that he shall
be a recusant, shall ... be utterly disabled to present to any
benefice with cure or without cure, prebend or any other
ecclesiastical living, or to collate or nominate to any free school,
hospital or donative whatsoever, and . . . shall likewise be
disabled to grant any avoidance to any benefice, prebend or
other ecclesiastical living ; and tliat the chancellor and scholars
of the University of Oxford, so often as any of them shall be
void, shall have the presentation ... to every such benefice
[&c.] lying within [certain counties], and that the chancellor
^ 3 and 4 Jac. I. 4. § 9 (above, p. 259).
1606.] Popish Recusants: disabilities, &c. 267
and scholars of the University of Cambridge shall have [tlie
same privilege within certain other counties].
XIV, Moreover, because recusants convict are not thought
meet to be executors or administrators to any person nor to
have the education of their own children, much less of the
children of any other of the King's subjects, nor to have the
marriage of them, be it therefore enacted, That such recusants
. . . shall be disabled to be executor or administrator . . . , nor
shall have the custody of any child, as guardian in chivalry,
guardian in socage or guardian in nurture of any lands [&c.]
being freehold or copyhold, . . . but shall be adjudged disabled
to have such wardship or custody of any such child or of their
lands [&c.] ; and that for the better education and preservation
of the said children and their estates the next of kin ... to
whom the said lands [&c.] . . . cannot lawfully descend, who
shall usually resort to some church . . . and receive the holy sacra-
ment of the Lord's Supper thrice in the year next before . . . ,
shall have the custody and education of the same child and of
his said lands [&c.] being holden in knight-service, until the
full age of the said ward . . . , and of his said lands [&c.]
holden by copy of court-rolls of any manor so long as the
custom of the said manor shall permit the same . . .
XV. And be it further enacted, That no i)erson shall bring from
beyond the seas, nor shall print, sell or buy any Popish primers,
ladies-psalters, manuals, rosaries. Popish catechisms, missals,
breviaries, portals, legends and lives of saints containing super-
stitious matter, printed or written in any language whatsoever,
nor any other superstitious books printed or written in the
English tongue, upon pain of forfeiture of 40s. for every such
book . . .; and that it shall be lawful for any two justices of
peace . . . and to all mayors, bailiffs and chief officers of cities
and towns corporate ... to search the houses and lodgings of
every Popish recusant convict, or of every person whose wife is
a Popish recusant convict, for Popish books and relics of
Popery; and that if any altar, pyx, beads, pictures or such-like
Popish relics or any Popish book shall be found in their
custody, as in the opinion of the said justices [&c.] shall
be thought unmeet for such recusant to have or use, the
same shall be presently defaced and burnt, if it be meet to
268 James I. [leoe.
be burnt, and if it be a crucifix or other relic of any price,
the same to be defaced . . . and ... to be restored to the owner
again.
XVI. And be it also enacted, That all such armour, gun-
powder and munition ... as any Popish recusant convict within
this realm of England hath in his house ... or elsewhere . . .
shall be taken ... by warrant of four justices of peace at their
general or quarter sessions . . . (other than such necessary
weapons as shall be thought fit by the said four justices of
peace to remain and be allowed for the defence of the person of
such recusant or for the defence of his house) . . .
XIX. [Proviso as in 3 Jac. I. 4. § 25.]
First Parliament: Third Session.
Nov. 18, 1606— July 4, 1607.
4 & 5 Jac. I. Cap. I.
An Act for the utter abolition of all memory of hostility and the
dependences thereof between England and Scotland, and for
the re^yressing of occasions of discord and disorders in time
to come.
I. For the honour, weal and good of these two mighty famous
and ancient kingdoms of England and Scotland, and for the
furtherance and advancement of the happy union already begun
in his Majesty's royal person, be it enacted, That [Stat. 4 H.
V. (2) 7 (letters of marque)] shall be utterly repealed. . . .
II. And be it further enacted, That [certain other statutes] *
shall be utterly repealed ; and if there had appeared any other
statute of this realm of England, wherein anything is ordained
expressly against Scottishmen as enemies or Scotland as an
enemy country . . . , we should, for so much of them as had
so concerned Scottishmen or Scotland, have utterly abrogated
* 7 R. II. 16; 31 H. VI. 3; 7 H. VII. 6; 23 H. VIII. 16; 2 and 3
P. and M. 1 ; I Eliz. 7 ; 23 Eliz. 4.
1607.] Relations with Scotland. 269
and annulled the same, seeing all enmity and hostility of former
times between the two kingdoms and peoples is now happily
taken awaj", and under the government of his Majesty as under
one parent and head turned into fraternity or brotherly friend-
ship.
III. Provided nevertheless . . . That none of the articles in
this Act before contained shall take effect . . . until these Acts
of parliament of the realm of Scotland hereafter following ^ . . .
shall by act of parliament of the said realm of Scotland be
utterly repealed ; and until also the said parliament of the
realm of Scotland shall . , . make as full and ample declaration
concerning their clear intention and desire of repeal of all other
hostile laws of their part not before mentioned, if they were
known, as on the part of this realm of England hath been in
this present Act expressed.
IV. And be it further enacted. That one Act ^ made in the 5th
year of King Richard the second, concerning the restraint of
passage of his Majesty's subjects out of this realm . . . shall be
from henceforth utterly repealed.
V. And be it further enacted, That no person subject of either
realm shall be . . . any way troubled or called in question . . .
by reason of any offences . . . (before the decease of the late
Queen Elizabetli of famous memory) which wei'e determinable
by the laws or constitutions of the borders within the courts
and jurisdiction of the late wardens or otherwise . . .
VI. And forasmuch as no abolition of hostile laws or of the
memory of hostility . . . can presently extirpate those inveterate
evil customs and disorders . . . wherewith the worst sorts of
inhabitants near the limit of both realms were infected ; . . . and
whereas experience teacheth that the malefactors of either
realm having committed their offences in the other realm do
forthwith escape many times into their own country, thereby
to purchase their impunity ; . . . and whereas in regard of some
difference ... in cases of life between the justice of the realm
of England and that of the realm of Scotland, it appeareth to
be most convenient ... to proceed with all possible severity
Certain hostile Acts of the Parliament of Scotland are here mentioned.
5 R. II. (I) 2.
270 James I. [1607.
against offenders in their own country according to the laws of
the same ; ... he it therefore enacted, That all offences ^ . . .
committed by any subjects of this realm of England . , . within
the realm of Scotland . . . shall be from henceforth enquired of,
heard and determined before his Majesty's justices of assize or
his commissioners of oyer and terminer or gaol delivery . . . , by
good and lawful men of the counties of Cumberland, North-
umberland, Westmoreland . . . , in like manner ... as if such
offences had been committed within the same shire where they
shall be so enquired of, heard and determined . . .
XV. And be it further enacted, That no natural born subject
of the realm of England . . . shall for any high treason ... or
any other offence or cause committed within Scotland be sent
out of England where he is apprehended, to receive his trial,
until such time as both realms shall be made one in laws and
government, which is the thing so much desired as that wherein
the full perfection of the blessed union already begun in his
Majesty's royal person consisteth ...
First Parliament: Fourth Session.
Feb. 9— July 23, 1610.
7 & 8 Jac. I. Cap. I.
An Act for the better execution of justice and suj^pressing of
criminal offenders in the north 2)afts of the kingdom of
England.
I. Whereas in a statute ^ made in the third session of this
present parliament, intituled [&c.], it was enacted [&c.], since
the making of which statute . . . there hath not been any one
offender committing any the offences aforesaid in Scotland, that
hath been prosecuted ... in England . . . ; whereby it manifestly
appeareth that the said clause in the said statute . . . hath not
brought forth that good effect as was hoped for . . .; be it
^ Various offences of a grave or felonious nature are here recited.
^ 4 Jac. I. I. § 6.
1610.] Scotland: Rogues mid Vagabonds. 271
enacted . . . That if . . . any person s^hall commit any offence
within the realm of Scotland . , . which by the laws of this
realm of England is declared to be petty treason [or some one
of various offences mentioned] and escape into the realm of
England and be apprehended within any the counties of
Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland ... or within
the parts lying on the north side of the river of Tyne . . . , it
shall be lawful for the justices of assize [&c.] or the justices of
peace in their general or quarter sessions ... to remand such
offenders into the realm of Scotland, there to receive their
trial . . .
II. Provided . . . That this statute nor any clause therein
contained shall take effect . . . until a law by Act of parliament
be made within the realm of Scotland for the sending out of
Scotland, into England all persons born within the realm of
Scotland which shall at any time hereafter commit any the
offences aforesaid within the realm of England, to receive their
trial in the realm of England . . .
7 & 8 Jac. I. Cap. IV.
An Act for the due execution of divers laws and statutes heretofore
made against rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars and
other lewd and idle 2)ersons.
I. Whereas heretofore divers good and necessary laws and
statutes have been made for the erection of houses of correction,
for the suppressing and punishing of rogues, vagabonds and
other idle vagrant and disorderly persons, which laws have not
wrought so good effect as was expected, as well for that the
said houses of correction have not been built ... as also for
that the said statutes have not been duly and severely put in
execution . . . ; for remedy whereof be it enacted . . . That all
laws and statutes now in force made for building of houses of
correction and for punishing of rogues . . . and idle pei'sons
shall be put in due execution.
II. And be it further enacted. That before the feast of
St Michael the Archangel . . . 1 6 1 1 there shall be . . . built or
otherwise jii-ovided within eveiy county of this realm of
England and Wales, where there is not one house of correction
272 James 1. [leio.
already . . . , one or more fit and convenient houses of correction
with convenient back-side thereunto adjoining, together witli
. . . necessary implements to set the said . . . idle persons on
work . . .
III. And be it further enacted, Tliat if the said house . . .
shall not be . . . provided before the feast of St Michael . . .
1611 . . . that then every justice of peace within every county
. . . where such house . . . shall not be provided shall forfeit
for his said neglect £5 . . .
IV. And be it further enacted, That the justices of peace of
every county ... at their quarter sessions . . . shall . . . appoint
. . . one or more honest, fit persons to be governor or master of
the said houses . . . ; which persons so chosen . . . shall have
power to set such . . . idle and disorderly persons as shall be
brought or sent unto the said house to work and labour (being
able), . . . and that the said . . . idle persons, during such time
as they shall continue in the said house of correction, shall in
no sort be chargeable to the country for any allowance . . . but
shall have such allowance as they shall deserve by their own
labour and work.
V. And be it further enacted, That the said justices of peace
. . . within every of their several divisions, twice in every year
at the least and oftener if there be occasion, shall meet together
for the better execution of this statute, and at some four or five
days before their meeting . . . shall . . . command the constables
and tithing-men . . . within their said several divisions, which
shall be assisted with sufficient men of the same places, to make
a general privy search in one night . . . for the finding out and
apprehending of the said rogues . . . and idle persons ; and that
such rogues [&c.] as they shall then find . . . shall by them be
brought before the said justices . . . , there to be examined . . ,
punished or otherwise . . . conveyed unto the said house of
correction, . . . there ... to be set to labour . . .
VIII. And for that many wilful people, . . . able to labour
and thereby to relieve themselves and their families, do never-
theless run away out of their parishes and leave their families
upon the parish, ... be it further enacted . . . That all such
persons . . . shall be deemed to be incorrigible rogues, and
endure the pains of incorrigible rogues . . .
1610.] Oath of Allegiance. 273
7 & 8 Jac. I. Cap. VI.
An Act for administering the oath of allegiance, and reformation
of married women recusant.
I. Whereas by a statute ^ made in the third year of your
Majesty's reign, intituled [&c.], the form of an oath to be
ministered to certain persons in the same Act mentioned is
prescribed, tending only to the declai'ation of such duty, as
every true and well affected subject . . . ought to bear to your
Majesty . . . ; and to shew how greatly your loyal subjects do
approve the said oath, they prostrate themselves at your
Majesty's feet, beseeching your Majesty that the same oath
may be administered to all your subjects ; to which end . . .
be it enacted, That all persons, as well ecclesiastical as
temporal, . . . above the age of eighteen years, being hereafter
iu this Act mentioned and intended, shall make a corporal oath
upon the evangelists according to the tenour and effect of the
said oath set forth in the said forementioned statute, before
such person or persons as hereafter in this Act is expressed . . .
II. And to the intent that due execution may be had of the
premisses without delay, it is further enacted. That all the
persons before named, who have any certain time limited when
to take the aforesaid oath, shall at the time therein prescribed
take the same, and the rest within six months next after the
end of this present session of parliament.
III. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for
any one of the privy council . . . and for every bishop within
his diocese, to require any baron or baroness of the age of
eighteen or above to take the said oath, and for any two
justices of peace within any county, city or town corporate,
whereof one to be of the quorum, to require any person of the
age of eighteen years or above, under the degree of a baron or
baroness to take the said oath ; and if any person of or above
the said age and degree . . . stand indicted or convicted for not
coming to church or not receiving the Holy Communion . . .
according to the laws and statutes of this realm . . . , then
three of the privy council . . . whereof the Lord Chancellor,
Lord Treasurer, Lord Privy Seal or Principal Secretary to be
^ 3 Jac. I. 4. § 9 : above, p. 258.
T
374 James I. [leio.
one, upon knowledge thereof, shall require such person to take
the said oath ; and if any other person of or above the said age
and under the said degree . . . stand and be presented, indicted
or convicted for not coming to church or receiving the Holy
Communion . , . according to the laws and statutes of this
realm . . . , or if the minister, petty constable and church-
wardens or any two of them shall . . . complain to any justice
of peace near adjoining to the place where any person com-
plained of shall dwell, and the said justices shall find cause of
suspicion, that then any one justice of peace, within whose
commission or power such person shall be, or to whom complaint
shall be made as aforesaid, shall upon notice thereof require
such person to take the said oath . . . ; and that if any
person . . . shall refuse to take the said oath . . . , that then the
persons authorised by this law to give the said oath shall
commit the same offender to the common gaol, there to remain
. . . until the next assizes or general quarter sessions, . . . where
the said oath shall be again . . . required of such person . . .;
and if the said person . . , shall refuse to take the said oath . . .
every person so refusing shall incur the penalty of praemunire.
IV. And be it further enacted, That every person refusing to
take the said oath as above shall be disabled ... to execute any
public place of judicature or bear any other office (being no
office of inheritance or ministerial function) within this your
Highness' realm of England, or to use or pi'actise the common
law or civil law, or the science of physic or surgery, or the art
of an apothecary, or any liberal science, for his or their gain,
within this realm, until such time as the same person shall
receive the same oath according to the intent of this statute.
V. And be it further enacted. That if any married woman,
being lawfully convicted as a popish recusant for not coming to
church, shall not within three months next after such conviction
conform herself and repair to the church and receive the
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the former
laws . . . , that then she shall be committed to prison by one
of the privy council ... or by the bishop of the diocese if she
be a baroness, or if she be under that degree, by two justices
of the peace of the same county, whereof one to be of the
quorum, there to remain . . . until she shall conform herself . • . ,
1624.] Monopolies, &c. 275
unless the husband of such wife shall pay . . . for every month
£10 ... or else the third part ... of all his lands and tene-
ments, at the choice of the husband whose wife is so convicted,
during so long time as she remaining a recusant convicted shall
continue out of prison . . .
First Parliament: Fifth Session.
Oct. 16— Dec. 6, 1610.
(No Statutes passed.)
Second Parliament.
April 5— June 7, 1614.
(No Statutes passed.)
Third Parliament : First and Second Sessions.
Jan. 30— June 4, and Nov. 20 — Dec. 18, 1621.
(Two Acts of Subsidies alone passed.)
Fourth Parliament.
Feb. 19— May 29, 1624.
21 & 22 Jac. I. Cap. III.
An Act concerning monopolies, and dis2)ensations ivith ^;e»oZ
laws, and the forfeiture thereof.
I. Forasmuch as your most excellent Majesty, in your royal
judgment and of your blessed disposition to the weal and quiet
of your subjects, did in the year of our Lord God, i6io, publish
in print to the whole realm and to all posterity, That all grants
of monopolies, and of the benefit of any penal laws, or of power
to dispense with the law, or to compound for the forfeiture, are
contrary to your Majesty's laws ; which your Majesty's declar-
ation is truly consonant and agreeable to the ancient and
fundamental laws of this your realm : and whereas your Majesty
was further graciously pleased expressly to command, that no
suitor should presume to move your Majesty for matters of that
T a
276 James L [1624.
nature ; yet nevertheless, upon misinformations and untrue
pretences of public good, many such grants have been unduly
obtained and unlawfully put in execution, to the great grievance
and inconvenience of your Majesty's subjects, contrary to the
laws of this your realm and contrary to your Majesty's royal
and blessed intention so published as aforesaid : for avoiding
whereof and preventing of the like in time to come, may it
please your most excellent Majesty . . . that it may be declared
and enacted, and be it declared and enacted . . . That all monopolies
and all commissions, grants, licences, charters and letters patents
... to any person, bodies politic or corporate whatsoever, for
the sole buying, selling, making, working or using of anything
within this realm or the dominion of Wales, or of any other
monopolies, or of power to dispense with any others, or to give
licence or toleration to do anything against the tenour of any
law or statute, or to give or make any warrant for any such
dispensation, licence or toleration, ... or to agree or compound
with any others for any penalty or forfeitures limited by any
statute, or of any gi-ant or promise of the benefit of any
forfeiture, penalty or sum of money that shall be due by
any statute, before judgment thereupon had, and all proclama-
tions, inhibitions, restraints, warrants of assistance, and all
other things whatsoever, any way tending to the instituting . . .
or countenancing of the same . . . , are altogether contrary to
the laws of this realm, and so are and shall be utterly void and
of none effect . . .
II. And be it further enacted. That all monopolies and all
such commissions, grants [&c.], and all other things tending as
aforesaid . . . ought to be and shall be for ever hereafter . . .
tried and determined according to the common laws of this
realm, and not otherwise.
V. Provided nevertheless, . . . That any declaration before-
mentioned shall not extend to any letters patents and grants of
privilege for the term of one and twenty years or under, hereto-
fore made of the sole working or making of any manner of new
manufacture within this realm to the first and true inventor or
inventors of such manufactures, which others at the time of the
making of such letters patents and grants did not use, so they
be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to the state by
1624.] Government of Wales. 277
raising of the prices of commodities at home or hurt of trade,
or generally inconvenient, but that the same shall be of such
force as they were or should be if this Act had not been
made . . .
VI. Provided also, and be it enacted, That any declaration
beforementioned shall not extend to any letters patents and
grants of privilege for the term of fourteen years or under,
hereafter to be made, of the sole working or making of any
manner of new manufactures within this realm, to the true and
first inventor and inventors of such manufactures . . .
IX. Provided also, . . . That this Act . . . shall not in any
wise extend or be prejudicial unto the city of London or to any
city, boi'ough or town corporate within this realm, for any
grants, charters or letters patents to them . . . granted, or for
any customs used by or within any of them, or unto any corpor-
ations, companies or fellowships of any art, trade, occupation or
mystery, or to any companies or societies of merchants within
this realm erected for the maintenance ... of any trade of
merchandise . . .
X-XIV. [Various special exemptions.]
21 & 22 Jac. I. Cap. X.
An Act of rei)eal of one, branch of a statute made in the J4th
year of King Henry the Eighth,
I. Whereas the subjects of the country and dominion of
Wales have been constantly loyal and obedient, . . . and whereas
by an Act ^ of parliament made in the 34th year of the reign of
the late King Henry the Eighth, intituled [&c.], it is enacted
. . . That the King's most royal Majesty may . . . from time to
time . . . make laws and ordinances for . . . his said dominion of
Wales, . . . and that ... all such laws and ordinances . . . shall
be of as good effect as if they bad been made by authority of
parliament . . . ; for the abolition of distinction between the
subjects of England and Wales, his most excellent Majesty . . .
is graciously pleased that it may be enacted, . . . and be it
enacted. That the said recited branch of the said Act of parlia-
> 34 and 35 H. VIII. 26. § 59.
2yS James I. [ie24.
racnt ... be utterly repealed, . . . and that the King's Majesty,
his heirs or successors, shall not hy virtue of . . . the said Act,
at any time heieafter, alter . . . any laws, usage or custom, or
make any new laws lor the said dominion or principality of
Wales.
21 & 22 Jac. I. Cap. XXVIII.
A71 Act for continuing and reviving of divers statutes and repeal
of divers others.
YII. Be it also enacted . . . That no sanctuary or privilege of
sanctuary shall be hereafter allowed in any case.
21 & 22 Jac. I. Cap. XXXIII.
An Act for 'payment of three subsidies and three fifteens hy tlie
temporality.
I. Most gracious Sovereign, we your Majesty's most humble,
faithful and loving subjects, . . . having entered into serious and
due consideration of the weighty and most important causes
which at this time more than at any other time heretofore do
press your Majesty to a much greater expense than your own
treasure alone can at this present support, and likewise of the
injuries and indignities which have been lately offered to your
Majesty and your children, under colour and during the time of
the treaties for the marriage with Spain and the restitution of
the Palatinate, which in this parliament have been clearly laid
open unto us ; and withal what humble advice, with one
consent and voice, w^e have given unto your Majesty to dissolve
those treaties, which your Majesty hath been graciously pleased
to our exceeding joy and comfort fully to yield unto . . . ; we in
all humbleness most ready and willing to give unto your
Majesty and the whole world an ample testimony of our dutiful
affections and sincere intentions to assist you therein, for the
maintenance of that war that may hereupon ensue, and more
particularly for the defence of this your realm of England, the
securing of your kingdom of Ireland, the assistance of your
neighbours the States of the United Provinces and other your
Majesty's friends and allies, and for the setting forth of your
1624.] Grant of aid upon conditions. 279
royal navy, we have resolved to give for the present the
greatest aid which ever was granted in parliament to be levied
in so short a time ; and therefore ... be it declared by the
authority of this present parliament, That the said two treaties
are by your Majesty utterly dissolved ; and for the maintenance
of the war which may ensue thereupon and for the causes afore-
said, be it enacted, That three whole fifteens and tenths shall
be levied ... in manner aforetime used, ... to be paid unto the
hands of Sir Thomas Middleton Knight and Alderman of
London [and seven others named], treasurers especially ap-
pointed by this Act to receive and issue the same . . .
IV. And furthermore, for the great and weighty consider-
ations aforesaid, we the Lords spiritual and temporal and the
Commons . . . give and grant to your Highness . . . three entire
subsidies . . .
XXXVI. And be it further enacted. That all the sums of
money by this present Act granted to the uses aforesaid shall
be paid by the several collectors thereof . . . unto the said
treasurers . . .
XXXVII. And to the end that all the sums of money by this
present Act granted . . . may be truly expended for the uses afore-
said and not otherwise, according to your Majesty's own gracious
desire ; be it further enacted. That the moneys to be received
by the said treasurers by virtue of this Act shall be issued . . ,
to such persons and in such manner as by the warrant of George
Lord Carew [and nine others named], which ten ])ersons his
Majesty hath already nominated to be of his council for the war,
or any five or more of them, whereof two of them to be of his
Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, . . . shall Le directed,
and not otherwise . . .
XXXIX. And be it further enacted, That as well the said
treasurers as the said persons appointed for the council of war
and all other persons who shall be trusted with the receiving,
issuing, bestowing and employing of these moneys . . . shall be
answerable ... to the Commons in parliament, when they shall
be thereunto required by warrant under the hand of the Speaker
of the House of Commons . . .
XLI. And be it further enacted, That when the Commons in
parliament have heard . . . the dealings of any the persons afore-
28o James I. [i624.
said . . . the offenders being no Lords of pailiament sliall by the
House of Commons be committed to the Tower of London,
there to remain close prisoners until by order of the House of
Commons they be delivered ; and if any the Lords of parliament
shall be found offenders, then the Commons in parliament shall
present their offence to the Lords in parliament, and thereupon
the Lords in parliament shall have power to hear, examine and
determine the offence so presented, and to commit them like-
wise to the Tower of London, there to remain close prisoners
until by order of that house they shall be delivered.
XLIL And be it further enacted, That the offenders in every
such case shall undergo such further censure and punishment as
to justice shall ajjpertain, . . . according to the judgment of
either house respectively.
XLIII. And to the end that as well the said council of war
as the said treasurers may the better observe and perform the
trust aforesaid, . . . they shall severally and distinctly take these
respective oaths following, . . . before the Lord Keeper of the
Great Seal or Master of the Eolls within one week after the
end of this present session of parliament . . .
IL— PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.
I. General.
1. Froclmnation concerning tlie choice of knights and burgesses
for the 2)cirliament.
. . . We do hereby straitly charge and admonish all persons
interested in the choice of knights for the shires, first, that
the knights for the county be selected out of the principal
knights or gentlemen of sufficient ability within that county
wherein they are chosen : and, for the bm-gesses, that choice be
made of men of sufficiency and discretion without any partial
respects or factious combination. . . . Next and above all things,
considering that one of the main pillars of this estate is the
preservation of unity in the profession of sincere religion of
1604.] Proclamation touching Elections. . 281
Almighty God, we do also admonish tliat there be great care
taken to avoid the choice of any persons either noted for their
superstitious blindness one way or for their turbulent humours
other ways, because their disorderly and unquiet spirits will
disturb all the discreet and modest proceeding in that greatest
and gravest council. Further we do command that an express
care be had that there be not chosen any j^ersons bankrupts or
outlawed, but men of known good behaviour and sufficient
livelihood, and such as are not only taxed to the payment of
subsidies and other like charges, but also have ordinarily paid
and satisfied the same . . . Next, that all sheriffs be charged
that they do not direct any precept for electing and returning
of any burgesses to or for any ancient borough-town within their
counties, being so utterly ruined and decayed that thei'e are not
sufficient resiants to make such choice, and of whom lawful
election may be made ; also to charge all cities and boroughs,
that none of them seal any blanks, refexTing or leaving to any
others to insert the names of any citizens or bui'gesses to serve
for any such city or borough, but that the inhabitants of every
such city or borough do make open and free election according
to the law, and set down the names of the persons whom they
choose before they seal the certificate. Furthermore we notify
by these presents, that all returns and certificates of knights,
citizens and burgesses ought and are to be bi'ought to the
Chancery, and there to be filed of record. And if any shall be
found to be made contrary to this proclamation, the same is to
be rejected as unlawful and insufficient, and the city or borough
to be fined for the same. And if it be found that they have
committed any gross or wilful default and contempt in their
election, return or certificate, that then their liberties according
to the law are to be seized into our hands as forfeited. And if
any person take upon him the place of a knight, citizen or
burgess, not being duly elected, returned and sworn according
to the laws and statutes in that behalf provided, and according
to the purport, effect and true meaning of this our proclamation,
then every jjerson so offending to be fined and imprisoned for
the same . . .
Hampton Court, the 11 day of January, [1604.]
JPioclamaiion Book, James I, vol. II. p. 57.
282 . James I. [1604.
2. Speech of James I at the opening of Parliament,
19 March, 1604.
It did no sooner please God to lighten his hand, and relent
the violence of his devouring angel against the poor people of
this city, but as soon did T resolve to call this parliament, and
that for three chief and principal reasons. The first whereof is
. . . that you . . . may with your own ears hear, and that I out
of my own mouth may deliver unto you, the assurance of my
due thankfulness for your so joyful and general applause to the
declaring and receiving of me in this seat, which God, by my
birthright and lineal descent, had, in the fulness of time,
provided for me ...
F'or expressing of my thankfulness, I must resort unto the
other two reasons of my convening this parliament , . . As to.
the first, it is the blessings which God hath, in my person,
bestowed upon you all . . . The first then of these blessings
which God hath jointly with my person sent unto you, is
outward peace ; that is, peace abroad with all foreign neigh-
bours . . . But, although outward peace be a great blessing, yet
is it as far inferior to peace within, as civil wars are more
cruel and unnatural than wars abroad. And therefore the
second great blessing that God hath, with my person, sent unto
you, is peace within, and that in a double form : first, by my
descent lineally out of the loins of Henry VII is reunited and
confirmed in me the union of the two princely roses of the two
houses of Lancaster and York . . .
But the union of these two princely houses is nothing com-
parable to the union of two ancient and famous kingdoms,
which is the other inward peace annexed to my person ... If
we were to look no higher than to natural and physical reasons,
we may easily be persuaded of the great benefits that by that
union do redound to the whole island ; for if twenty thousand
men be a strong army, is not the double thereof, forty thousand,
a double the stronger army ] . . . But what should we stick
upon any natural appearance, when it is manifest that God, by
his Almighty Providence, hath pre-ordained it so to be ? Hath
not God first united these two kingdoms, both in language and
religion and similitude of manners 1 Yea, hath he not made
1604.] The King's speech in Parliament. 283
us all in one island, compassed with one sea, and of itself hy
natui'e so indivisible, as almost those that were borderers them-
selves on the late borders cannot distinguish nor know or
discern their own limits 1 . . . "What God hath conjoined then,
let no man separate. I am the husband and all the whole isle
is my lawful wife : I am the head and it is my body : I am the
shepherd and it is my flock , . .
But ... all worldly blessings are but like swift passing
shadows, fading flowers, or chaff blown before the wind, if by
the profession of true religion and works according thereunto
God be not moved to maintain and settle the thrones of princes
... At my first coming, although I found but one religion, and
that which by myself is professed, publicly allowed and by the
law maintained, yet found I another sort of religion, besides
a private sect, lurking within the bowels of this nation. The
first is the true religion, which by me is professed and by the
law is established : the second is the falsely called Catholics,
but truly Papists : the third, which I call a sect rather than
a religion, is the Puritans and Novelists, who do not so far
differ from us in points of religion as in their confused form of
policy and parity ; being ever discontented with the present
government and impatient to suffer any suj^eriority, which
maketh their sect unable to be suffered in any well-governed
commonwealth. But as for my course toward them, I remit it
to my proclamations made upon that subject.
And now, for the Papists, I must put a difference betwixt
mine own private profession of mine own salvation, and my
politic government of the realm for the weal and quietness
thereof. As for my own piofession, you have me your head
now amongst you of the same religion that the body is of . . ,
But as I would be loather to dispense in the least point of mine
own conscience for any worldly respect than the foolishest
precisian of them all, so would I be as sorry to strait the
politic government of the bodies and minds of all my subjects
to my private opinions : nay, my mind was ever so free from
persecution or thralling of my subjects in matters of con-
science, as I hope that those of that profession within this
kingdom have a proof since my coming, that I was so far from
increasing their burdens with Rehoboam, as I have, so much as
284 James I. [1604.
either time, occasion or law could permit, lightened them.
And even now at this time have I heen careful to revise and
consider deeply upon the laws made against them, that some
overture may be proponed to the present parliament for clear-
ing these laws by reason, which is the soul of the law, in case
they have been, in times past, further or more rigorously
extended by judges than the meaning of the law was, or might
tend to the hurt as well of the innocent as of guilty persons.
And as to the persons of my subjects which are of that pro-
fession, I must divide them into two ranks, clerics and laics.
For the part of the laics, certainly I ever thought them far
more excusable than the other soit . . . But for the part of the
clerics, I must directly say and affirm, that as long as they
maintain one special point of their doctrine and another point
of their practice, they are no way sufFerable to remain in this
kingdom. Their point of doctrine is that arrogant and ambitious
supremacy of their head, the Pope, whereby he not only claims
to be spiritual head of all Christians, but also to have an
imperial civil power over all kings and emperors . . . The
other point which they observe in continual practice is the
assassinates and murders of kings, thinking it no sin but rather
a matter of salvation to do all acts of rebellion and hostility
against their natural sovereign lord, if he be once cursed, his
subjects discharged of their fidelity, and his kingdom given
a prey by that three-crowned monarch, or rather monster, their
head.
And in this point I have no occasion to speak further here,
saving that I could wish from my heart, that it would please
God to make me one of the members of such a general Christian
union in religion, as laying wilfulness aside on both hands, we
might meet in the midst, which is the centre and perfection of
all things . . . But of one thing would I have the Papists of
this land to be admonished, that they presume not so much
upon my lenity (because I would be lotli to be thought a perse-
cutor) as thereupon to think it lawful for them daily to increase
their number and strength in this kingdom ; whereby, if not in
my time, at least in the time of my posterity, they might be in
hope to erect their religion again. No ; let them assure them-
selves that, as I am a friend to their persons, if they be good
1604.] Proposals for ecclesiastical reform. 285
subjects, so am I a vowed enemy and do denounce mortal war
to their errors.
The King's Majesty's Speech ... 19 March, 1603 {Barker 1604) '.
3. Articles of debate in a conference between the two Houses,
^May, 1604 ^
(i) That the articles only concerning the doctrine of faith
and of the sacraments, whereunto the ministers ought to
subscribe by the statute ^ of the thirteenth year of the reign
of the late Queen Elizabeth, may be explained, perfected and
established by parliament ; and that no contrary doctrine may
be taught within this realm ; and that all masters of household
may be compelled to subscribe unto the same articles, as well as
the ministers. — (2) That from henceforth none other be ad-
mitted to be ministers of the word and sacrament, than such
as aie, at the time of their admittance, bachelors of art, or
of an higher degree in schools ; having testimony from the
university or college, whereof he was, of his ability to jDreach
and of his good life ; or else such as are approved and allowed
to be sufficient to preach and instruct the people and to be of
good life, by seme testimonial of six preachers of the county
where the party dwelleth. — (3) That from henceforth no dis-
pensation or toleration shall be allowed to any, to have or i-etain
two or more benefices with cure of souls or to be non-
resident; and that such as have now double benefices or be
non-resident shall give sufficient allowance yearly to maintain
a preacher in their absence ; and that, for this purpose, the
incumbent shall be allotted to make his residency in one of his
parsonages, to the intent that in the other church a certain
and constant minister may be maintained and kept. — (4) Also
it is thought meet, where the living of the vicar or curate
is under £20 by the year, that, for the better maintenance of
the vicar or curate (being a preacher), there may be some
increase made of his living, as shall be thought convenient. —
' Printed also in the Works of James I (1616), pp. 485 fF.
^ ' 5 May, 1604. Certain articles or heads, six in number, agreed on by
the Committee for matters of religion, to be handled in conference with the
Lords, delivered into the House' {C. J. I. p. 199).
^ 13 Eliz. 12. § I.
286 James I. [ieo4.
(5) Also it is humbly desired, that the lords would confer with
us, touching a petition to be preferred to the King's Majesty
that, by his gracious favour, such order be taken, that no
minister be forced to subscribe, otherwise than to the Articles
concerning only the doctrine of faith and sacraments, whereunto
by the said statute made in the thirteenth year of the reign of
the late Queen Elizabeth they are appointed to subscribe. —
(6) Also to confer with the lords, that such faithful ministers
as dutifully carry themselves in their functions and callings,
teaching the people diligently, may not be deprived, suspended,
silenced or imprisoned, for not using of the cross in baptism or
the surplice, which turneth to the punishment of the people. —
Touching ecclesiastical courts, there is a bill drawn by the
committees, ready to be preferred to the House.
Commons' Journals, I. p. 199.
4. Apology of the House of Commons, 20 June, 1604.
To the King's most excellent Majesty, from the House of the
Commons assembled in parliament'.
Most gracious Sovereign, ... we know, and with great
thankfulness to God acknowledge, that he hath given us a king
of such understanding and wisdom as is rare to find in any
prince in the world. Howbeit, seeing no human wisdom, how
great soever, can pierce into the particularities of the rights and
customs of [a] people or of the sayings and doings of particular
persons, but by tract of experience and faithful report of such
as know them, . . . what grief, what anguish of mind hath it
been unto us at some time in presence to liear, and so in other
things to find and feel by eifect your gracious Majesty (to the
extreme prejudice of all your subjects of England, and in
particular of this House of the Commons thereof) so greatly
wronged by misinformation, as well touching the estate of the
one as the privileges of the other, and their several proceedings
during this parliament . . .
* * 20 June, 1604. The Fomi of Apology and Satisfaction, to be pre-
sented to his Majesty, . . . was now reported and delivered in to the House '
(C. /. I. p. 243). It does not appear whether the Apology was ever
presented to the King, or not. Only a few lines are entered in the
Journals. There is a copy among the State Papers i^Doni.), James I.
VIII. 70.
1604.] Apology of the House of Commons. 287
But DOW no other help or redress appearing, and finding
these misinformations to have been the first, yea, the chief and
almost the sole cause of all the discontentful and troublesome
proceedings so much blamed in this parliament, ... we have
been constrained ... to break our silence, and freely to disclose
unto your Majesty the truth of such matters concerning your
subjects the Commons, as hitherto by misinformation hath been
suppressed or perverted. Wherein that we may more plainly
proceed (which next unto truth we affect in this discourse), we
shall reduce these misinformations to three principal heads ;
first, touching the cause of the joyful receiving of your Majesty
into this your kingdom : secondly, concerning the rights and
liberties of your subjects of England and the privileges of this
House : thirdly, touching the several actions and speeches
passed in the House.
. . . Now concerning the ancient rights of the subjects of this
realm, chiefly consisting in the privileges of this house of
parliament, the misinfoimation openly delivered to your Majesty
hath been in three things : first, that we iield not privileges of
right, but of grace only, renewed every parliament by way of
donature upon petition, and so to be limited. Secondly, that
we are no Court of Record, nor yet a court that can command
view of records ; but that our proceedings here are only to acts
and memorials, and that the attendance with the records is
courtesy, not duty. Thirdly and lastly, that the examination of
the return of writs for knights and burgesses is without our
compass, and due to the chancery.
Against which assertions, most gracious Sovereign, tending
directly and apparently to the utter overthrow of the very
fundamental privileges of our House, and therein of the rights
and liberties of the whole Commons of your realm of England,
which they and their ancestors from time immemorable have
undoubtedly enjoyed under your Majesty's most noble pi'o-
genitors, we the knights, citizens and burgesses of the House of
Commons assembled in parliament and in the name of the
whole Commons of the realm of England, with uniform consent
for ourselves and our posterity, do expressly protest, as being
derogatory in the highest degree to the true dignity, liberty
and authority of your Majesty's high court of parliament and
288 James I. [1604.
consequently to the rights of all your Majesty's said subjects
and the whole body of this your kingdom ; and desire that this
our protestation may be recorded to all posterity. And
contrariwise, with all humble and due respect to your Majesty
our sovereign lord and head, against these misinformations we
most truly avouch, first, that our privileges and liberties are
our right and due inheritance, no less than our very lauds and
goods. Secondly, that they cannot be withheld from us, denied
or impaired, but with apparent wrong to the whole state of
the realm. Thirdly, that our making of request in the en-
trance of parliament to enjoy our privilege is an act only of
manners, and doth weaken our right no more than our suing
to the King for our lands by petition, which form, though new
and more decent than the old by praecipe, yet the subject's right
is no less now than of old. Fourthly, we avouch also that our
House is a court of record, and so ever esteemed. Fifthly, that
there is not the highest standing court in this land that ought
to enter into competency either for dignity or authority with
this high court of parliament, which with your Majesty's royal
assent gives laws to other courts, but from other courts receives
neither laws nor orders. Sixthly and lastly, we avouch that
the House of Commons is the sole proper judge of return of all
such writs, and of the election of all such members as belong
unto it, without which the freedom of election were not entire;
and that the chancery, though a standing court under your
Majesty, be to send out those writs and receive the returns and
to preserve them, yet the same is done only for the use of the
parliament ; over whfch neither the chancery nor any other
court ever had or ought to have any manner of jurisdiction.
From these misinformed positions, most gracious Sovereign,
the greatest part of our troubles, distrusts and jealousies have
risen : having apparently found, that in the first parliament of
the happy reign of your Majesty the privileges of our House,
and therein the liberties and stability of the whole kingdom,
have been more universally and dangerously impugned than
ever (as we suppose) since the beginnings of parliament . . .
First, the freedom of persons in our election hath been im-
peached. Secondly, the freedom of our speech prejudiced by
often reproofs. Thirdly, particular persons noted with taunt
1604.] Apology of the Commons. 289
and disgrace, who have spoken their consciences in matters
proposed to the House, but with all due respect and reverence
to your Majesty. Whereby we have been in the end subject to
so extreme contempt, as a gaoler durst so obstinately withstand
the decrees of our House ' ; some of the higher clergy ^ to write
a book against us, even sitting the parliament ; the inferior
clergy to inveigh against us in pulpits, yea to publish their
protestations, tending to the impeachment of our most ancient
and undoubted rights in treating of matters for the peace and
good order of the Church.
What cause we your poor Commons have to watch over our
privileges, is manifest in itself to all men. The prerogatives of
princes may easily, and do daily gi'ow : the privileges of the
subject are for the most part at an everlasting stand. They
may be by good providence and care preserved, but being once
lost are not recovered but with much disquiet.
The rights and liberties of the Commons of England con-
sisteth chiefly in these three things : first, that the shires, cities
and boroughs of England, by representation to be present, have
free choice of such persons as they shall put in trust to
represent them : secondly, that the persons chosen, during the
time of tlie parliament, as also of their access and recess, be free
from restraint, arrest and imprisonment : thirdly, that in par-
liament they may speak freely their consciences without check
and controlment, doing the same with due reverence to the
sovereign court of parliament, that is, to your Majesty and
both tlie Houses, who all in this case make but one f)olitic
body, whereof your Highness is the head.
These three several branches of the ancient inheritance of our
liberty were in three matters ensuing apparently injured : the
freedom of election, in the case of Sir Francis Goodwin ; the
freedom of the persons elected, in Sir Thomas Shirley's imprison-
ment ; the freedom of our speech, as by divers other reproofs,
so also in some sort by the Bishop of Bristol's invective.
For the matter of Sir F. Goodwin ', the knight chosen for
Buckinghamshire, we were and still are of a clear opinion, that
the freedom of election was in that action extremely injured ;
1 In Sir T. Shirley's case (p. 320). =* The Bishop of Bristol.
* Below, p. 325.
290 James I. [1604.
that by the same riglit it might be at all times in a Lord
Chancellor's power reverse, defeat, evert and substitute all the
elections and persons elected over all the realm. Neither
thought we that the judges' opinion, which yet in due place we
greatly reverence, being delivered what the common law was,
which extends only to inferior and standing courts, ought to
bring any prejudice to this high court of parliament, whose
power being above the law is not founded on the common law,
but have their rights and privileges peculiar to themselves . . .
Wherein, though we suppose the wrong done to be most
apparent and extremely prejudicial for the rights and liberties
of this realm, yet such and so great was our willingness to
please your Majesty as to yield to a middle course proposed by
your Highness, preserving only our privileges by voluntary
cessions of the lawful right . . .
In the deliver}' of Sir T. Shirley our proceedings were long ;
our defence of them shall be brief. We had to do with a man,
the "Warden of the Fleet, so intractable and of so resolved
obstinacy, as that nothing we could do, no, not your Majesty's
royal word for confirmation thereof, could satisfy him for his
own security. This was the cause of the length of that
business; our privileges were so shaken before and so ex-
tremely vilified, as that we held it not fit, in so unseasonable
a time and against so mean a subject, to seek our right by any
other course of law, or by any strength than by our own.
The Bishop of Bristol's book was injurious and grievous to us,
being written expressly with contempt of the parliament and of
both the Houses in the highest degree. . . . These wrongs were
to the dignity of our House and privileges.
Touching the causes appertaining to State and Church, true it
is we were long in treating and debating the matter of Union.
The propositions were new, the importance great, the con-
sequence far-reaching and not discoverable but by long disputes
. . . For matter of religion, it will appear, by examination of
truth and right, that your Majesty should be misinformed, if
any man should deliver that the kings of England have any
absolute power in themselves, either to alter religion (which
God defend should be in the power of any mortal man what-
soever) or to make any laws concerning the same, otherwise than
1604.] Apology of the Commons. 291
as in temporal causes by consent of parliament. We have and
shall at all times by our oaths acknowledge, that your Majesty is
sovereign lord and supreme governor in botli. Touching our
own desires and proceedings therein, they have not been a little
misconceived and misreported. We have not come in any
Puritan or Brownish spirit to introduce their parity^, or to work
the subversion of the state ecclesiastical, as now it standeth . . .
We disputed not of matters of faith and doctrine ; our desire
was peace only ; and our device of unity, how this lamentable
and long-lasting dissension amongst the ministers, from which
both atheism, sects and all ill life have received such encourage-
ment and so dangerous increase, might at length, before help
come too late, be extinguished. And for the ways of this peace,
we are not at all addicted to our own inventions, but ready to
embrace any fit way that may be offered ; neither desire we so
much that any man in regard of weakness of conscience may be
exempted after parliament from obedience unto laws estab-
lished, as that in this parliament such laws may be enacted,
as by the relinquishment of some few ceremonies of small
importance, or by any way better, a perpetual uniformity may
be enjoyed and observed. Our desire hath also been to reform
certain abuses crept into the ecclesiastical state, even as into
the temporal : and lastly, that the land might be furnished with
a learned, religious, and godly ministry, for the maintenance
of whom we would have granted no small contributions, if in
these (as we trust) just and religious desires we had found that
correspondency from others which was expected . . .
There remains the matters of oppression or grievance in the
bill of assarts . . . We have not in this present parliament sought
anything against them but execution of those laws which are
in force ah'eady. We demand but that justice which our
princes are sworn neither to deny, delay nor sell . . .
We come lastly to the matter of wards and such other
burdens (for so we acknowledge them) as to the tenures in
capite and knight-service are incident. We cannot forget (for
how were it possible 1) how your Majesty, in a former most
gracious speech in your gallery at Whitehall, advised us for
unjust burthens to proceed against them by bill : but for such
* 'party' (Petyt) : cp. above, p. 283.
U 2
292 James I. [leoi
as were just, if we desired any ease, that we should come to
yourself, by way of petition, with tender of such countervailable
composition in profit as for the supporting of your royal estate
was requisite. According unto which your Majesty's most
favourable grant and direction, we prepared a petition to your
most excellent Majesty for leave to treat with your Highness
touching a perpetual composition, to be laised by yearly revenue
out of the lands of your subjects, for wardships and other
burthens depending upon them or springing with them.
Wherein we first entered into this dutiful consideration, that
this prerogative of the crown, which we desire to compound for,
was matter of mere profit, and not of any honour at all or
princely dignity . . . This prerogative then appearing to be
a meie matter of great profit, we entered into a second degree
of consideration, with how great grievance and damage of the
subject, to the decay of many houses and disabling of them to
serve their prince and country ; with how great mischief also, by
occasion of many forced and ill-suited marriages ; and lastly,
with how great contempt and leproach of our nation in foreign
countries, how small a commodity now was laised to the crown
in respect of that, which with great love and joy and thankful-
ness, for the restitution of this original right in disposing of
our children, we would be content and glad to assure unto your
Majesty. We fell also from hence into a third degree of con-
sideration, that it might be that, in regard that the original of
these wardships was serving of the king in his wars against
Scotland, (which cause we hope now to be at an everlasting
end), . . . your Majesty, out of your most noble and gracious
disposition and desire to overcome our expectation with your
goodness, may be pleased to accept the offer of a perpetual and
certain revenue, not only jDroportionable to the uttermost benefit
that any of your progenitors ever reaped thereby, but also with
such an overplus and large addition, as in great part to supply
your Majesty's other occasions . . .
Tliere remaineth, dread Sovereign, yet one part of our duty
at this jDresent, which faithfulness of heart, not presumption,
doth press : we stand not in place to speak or do things
pleasing. Our care is, and must be, to confirm the love and
tie the hearts of your subjects, the commons, most firmly to
1610.] Kings speech on the nature of Monarchy. 293
your Majesty. Herein lieth the means of our well deserving of
both : there was never prince entered with greater love, with
greater joy and applause of all his people. This love, this joy,
let it flourish in their hearts for ever. Let no suspicion have
access to their feai ful thoughts, that their privileges, which they
think by your Majesty should be protected, should now by
sinister informations or counsel be violated or impaired ; or that
those, which with dutiful respects to your Majesty, speak freely
for the right and good of their country, shall be oppressed or
disgraced. Let your Majesty be pleased to receive public
information from your Commons in parliament as to the civil
estate and government ; for private informations pass olten by
practice : the voice of the people, in the things of their know-
ledge, is said to be as the voice of God. And if your Majesty
shall vouchsafe, at your best pleasure and leisure, to enter into
your gracious consideration of our petition for the ease of these
burthens, under which your whole people have of long time
mourned, hoping for relief by your Majesty ; then may you be
assured to be possessed of their hearts, and, if of their hearts,
of all they can do or have. And so we, your Mnjesty's
most humble and loyal subjects, whose ancestors have with
great loyalty, readiness and joyfulness served your famous
progenitors, kings and queens of this realm, shall with like
loyalty and joy, both we and our posterity, serve your Majesty
and your most royal issue for ever, with our lives, lands and
goods, and all other our abilities : and by all means endeavour
to procure your ^lajesty's honour, with all plenty, tranquillity,
content, joy and felicity.
Pdyl, Jus Farliamentariam, ed. 1739, pp. 227-243
5. Speech of James I before Parliament, 21 March, 16 10.
. . . The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon y
earth: for kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth (
and sit upon God's throne, but even by God himself they are
called gods. There be three principal similitudes that illustrate
the state of monarchy : one taken out of the word of God, and
the two other out of the grounds of policy and pliilosophy. In
the Scriptures kings are called gods, and so their power after /
294 James I. [leio.
a certain relation compared to the Divine power. Kings are
also compared to fathers of families : for a king is truly par«ns
2mtriae, the politic father of his people. And lastly, kings are
compared to the head of this microcosm of the body of man. . .
I conclude then this point touching the power of kings with
this axiom of divinity, That as to dispute what God may do is
blasphemy, ... so is it sedition in subjects to dispute what
a king may do in the height of his power. But just kings will
ever be willing to declare what they will do, if they will not
incur the curse of God. I will not be content that my power
be disputed upon ; but I shall ever be willing to make the
leason appear of all my doings, and rule my actions according
to my laws . . .
Now the second general ground whereof I am to speak
concerns the matter of grievances. . . . First then, I am not to
find fault that you inform yourselves of tlie particular just
grievances of the people ; nay I must tell you, ye can neither
be just nor faithful to me or to your countries that trust and
employ you, if you do it not . . , But I would wish you to be
careful to avoid three things in the matter of grievances.
First, that you do not meddle with the main points of
government: that is my craft : tractent fabHlia fahri ; to meddle
with that, were to lesson me. I am now an old king . . . ;
therefore there should not be too many Phormios to teach
Hannibal : I must not be taught my office.
Secfiiidl^j I would not have you meddle with such ancient
rights of mine as I have received from my predecessors, pos-
sessing them wore majorum : such things I would be sorry
should be accounted for grievances. All novelties are dangerous
as well in a politic as in a natural body : and therefore I would
be loath to be quarrelled in my ancient rights and possessions :
for that wei-e to judge me unworthy of that which my pre-
decessors had and left me.
And lastly I pray you, beware to exhibit for grievance
anything that is established by a settled law, and whereunto
(as you have already had a proof) you know I will never give
a plausible answer : for it is an undutiful part in subjects to
press their king, wherein they know beforehand he will refuse
them. Now, if any law or statute be not convenient, let it be
1610.] The Great Contract. 295
amended by Parliament, but in the meantime term it not
a grievance ; for to be grieved with the law is to be grieved
with the king, who is sworn to be the patron and maintainer
thereof. But as all men are flesh and may err in the execution
of laws, so may ye justly make a grievance of any abuse of the
law, distinguishing wisely between the faults of the person and
the thing itself. As for example, complaints may be made
unto you of the High Commissioners : if so be, try the abuse
and spare not to complain ujjon it, but say not there shall be
no Commission, for that were to abridge the power that is
in me . . . Work& of Jamies I, ed. 1616, pp. 529-537.
6. Memorial concerning the Great Contract with his Majesty
touching tenures, with the dependants, purveyance, &c. de-
livered by the Committees of tlie Commons House unto the
Lords [26 March, 1610^].
Demands in matters of tenures, &c. — The desire, in general,
is to have all Knight-service turned into free and common
Soccage.
In particular some tenures more properly concern the person,
some the possession.
Grand Serjeanty : wherein though the tenure be taken away,
yet the service of honour to be saved, and the tenure p'''^'
baroniam, as it may concern bishops or barons or men in
Parliament to be considered. Petty Serjeanty, escuage certain
and uncertain, to be taken away. Castle Guard : that Castle
Guard which rests in rent to be saved. All Knight-Services
generally both of king and common person, to be taken awMy :
the rents and annual services to be saved. Homage ancestral
and ordinary, with the respite of them : both these to be taken
away ; only the coronation-homage to be saved, not in respect
of tenure but of honour. Fealty : the form of doing fealty not
yet resolved of. Wardship of body, marriage of the heir, of
the widow : these to be taken away. Resj)ite of fealty to be
taken away.
' The Lords' Journals (II. p. 573) say that, for the reforms proposed in
this metnorial, 'they [the Commons] offer to the King £100,000 yearly.'
The compensation was afterwards raised : cp. Gardiner, Engl. Hist. ii. 63.
-4\
296 James I. [leio.
Wardship and custody of lands likewise to be taken away.
Premier Seisin to cease. Livery, oustre le main, to be taken
away, so far as they concern tenures or seizure by reason of
tenures, other than for escheats. Licence of alienation upon
fines, feoffments, leases for life, and other conveyances : pardon
of alienation, pleading diein, clausit extremum, mandamus, quae
plura devenerunt, offices jjosi mortem, inquisitions ex officio,
except for escheats : also all concealed wards de futuro, all
intrusions, all alienations past, all bonds and covenants for
performance of what tends to Knight-Service — all these to be
determined. All wards now in being, or found by office, or
which shall be found by office before the conclusion of this
contract, and whose ancestors died within three years before :
those to be saved. Relief upon Knight-Service to cease.
Patentees that pay a sum in gross or pay tenths, or fee-farmers :
these not to double their rent upon a relief to be paid. Escheats,
heriots, suit of court, rents, workdays and such services : these
all to remain. Aid to the king to remain, but limited in
certain to £25,000, cum acciderit. Aids to common persons to
cease. Lords' Journals, II. p. 660.
7. Petition of the House of Commons, 23 Mai/, i6io^
To the King's most excellent Majesty.
Most gracious Sovereign, whereas your Majesty's most humble
subjects, the Commons assembled in Parliament, have received,
first by message and since by speech ^, from your Majesty
a commandment of restraint from debating in Parliament your
Majesty's right of imposing upon your subjects' goods exported
or imported out of or into this realm, yet allowing us to
examine the grievance of those impositions in regard of quan-
tity, time and other circumstances of disproportion thereto in-
cident; we your said humble subjects, nothing doubting but
that your Majesty had no intent by that commandment to
' Presented to the King on May 25 (C. J. I. p. 432).
- The message, 'which was to command the House not to dispute of the
King's power and prerogative in imposing upon merchandises exported or
imported,' was delivered by the Speaker on -\Iay li. The speech, contain-
ing a similar prohibition, was made at Whitehall on May 21 {Pari.
Debates, Camd. Soc. pp. 32-36).
1610.] Freedom of Speech, and Impositions. 297
infringe the ancient and fundamental i-ight of the lihertj' of the
ParUament, in point of exact discussing of all matters concern-
ing them and their possessions, goods and rights whatsoever
(which yet we cannot but conceive to be done in effect by this
commandment), do with all humble duty make this remonstrance
to your Majesty.
First, we hold it an ancient, general and undoubted right of
Parliament to debate freely all matters which do properly
concern the subject and liis right or state ; whicli freedom of
debate being once foreclosed, the essence of the liberty of
Parliament is withal dissolved.
And whereas, in this case, the subject's right on the one side
and your Majesty's prerogative on the other cannot possibly be
severed in debate of either, we allege that your Majesty's pre-
rogatives of that kind, concerning directly the subject's right
and interest, are daily handled and discussed in all courts at
Westminster, and have been ever freely debated, upon all fit
occasions, botli in this and all former Parliaments, without
restraint ; which being forbidden, it is impossible for the
subject either to know or to maintain his right and propriety
to his own lands and goods, though never so just and manifest.
It may further please your most excellent Majesty to under-
stand that we have no mind to impugn, but a desire to inform
oui'selves of your Highness' prerogative in that point, which, if
ever, is now most necessary to be known ; and though it were
to no other purpose, yet to satisfy the generality of your
Majesty's subjects, who, finding themselves much grieved by
these new impositions, do languish in much sorrow and dis-
comfort.
These reasons, dread Sovereign, being the proper reasons of
Parliament, do plead for the upholding of this our ancient right
and liberty. Howbeit, seeing it hath pleased your Majesty to
insist upon that judgment in the Exchequer \ as being direction
sufficient for us without further examination, upon great desire
of leaving your Majesty unsatisfied in no one point of our
intents and proceedings, we profess, touching that judgment,
that we neither do nor will take upon us to reverse it ; but our
desire is to know the reasons whereupon the same was grounded
' In Bates' case : see below, p. 340.
298 James I. [leio.
and the rather, for that a general conceit is had that the reasons
of that judgment may be extended much farther, even to the
utter ruin of the ancient liberty of tliis kingdom, and of your
subjects' right of propriety of tlieir lands and goods.
Then for the judgment itself, being the first and last that
was ever given in that kind, for ought ajipearing unto us, and
being only in one case and against one man, it can l>ind in law
no other but that person, and is also reversible by writ of error,
granted heretofore by Act of Parliament, and neither he nor
any subject is debarred by it from trying his right, in the same
or like case, in any of your Majesty's Courts of Record at
Westminster . , .
We therefoie, your Highness' loyal and dutiful Commons,
not swerving from the approved steps of our ancestors, most
humbly and instantly beseech your gracious Majesty that
without offence to the same we may, according to the undoubted
right and liberty of Parliament, proceed in our intended course
of a full examination of these new impositions ; that so we may
cheerfully pass on to your Majesty's business, from which this
stop hath by diversion so long withheld us. . . .
Common^ Journals, I. p. 431.
8. Propositions touching Purveyance ^.
Die Martis 26 Junii, 16 10. . . .
VI. All 23urveyance and takings for his Majesty, the Queen,
the Prince, and all other the king's children, and for all offices
officers, courts, councils and societies whatsoever, to be utterly
taken away, as well purveyance and takings for household,
stable, navy, servants, labourers, and all other provisions, as
also "for carts, horses and carriages, both by land and water;
and generally all purveyances and takings, for whomsoever or
whatsoever, of what name or nature soever, to be for ever
extinguished. The composition for the same to be all dissolved
and released. The clerk of the market and all other to be
disabled for setting any prices. The power and prerogative of
^ ' Seven propositions of ease,' of which this is No. 6, were discussed in
connexion with the Great Contract on June 22 and 25, passed on June 26,
and presented to the King on June 27 [C. J. I. pp. 443-444).
1610.] Purveyance: the Great Contract. 299
pre-emption to be determined, not intending hereby the pre-
emption of tin. What regard shall be had of the merchant-
stranger in this point, to be left to further consideration.
Lords'' JournaU, If. p. 660.
9. Memorial concerning the Great Contract with his Majesty
touching tenures, with the dependents, purveyance, &c. con-
ceived by direction of the Lords of the Higher House of
Parliament. [21 July, 1610.]
Whereas the knights, citizens and burgesses of the Lower
House of Parliament have this day, by their committees,
delivered unto the Loids Committees of this House a Memorial
by them conceived and put in writing, containing certain
articles concerning the Gi eat Contract with his Majesty, which
during this session hath long and often been in speech and
debate between their lordships and them, as well on his
Majesty's behalf as for the interest of their lordships and of
the said knights, citizens and burgesses ; by which Contract
they are tied to assure unto his Majesty, his heirs and suc-
cessors, the sum of £200,000 sterling in yearly revenue, in
satisfaction of the great yearly profits w'hich his Majesty hath
or may make, as well in respect of the wardships of the bodies
and lands of his subjects and all other incidents to tenures, as
of the benefits arising by post-fines, defective titles, assarts and
many other immunities and privileges, together with the extin-
guishing of pui veyance, (all tending to the profit and ease of
his Majesty's subjects) : . . . and forasmuch as the knights and
burgesses of the Lower House have also acknowledged (and
that most truly) that they did always understand themselves
bound to limit themselves so carefully in all things which they
have sought for or shall do, not being particularly expressed at
the time that they did accept of the price, as not to demand or
expect any condition wheieby his Majesty should lose either
honour or profit as aforesaid : the Lords also, who are likewise
in their own particular estates and possessions (beside the care
of the public good) no less interested in the said Great Contract
than they, and by their eminent places and degrees are more
strictly bound to take care of those things which do particularly
300 James I. [leio.
concern the honour and revenue of the Crown than others are,
have now, upon good advice and deliberation, thought it fit
and necessary not only to acknowledge their personal consent
to the substantial parts of this Contract, but (with the privity
of his Majesty as an argument of his consent) given order
likewise for an entry to be made of the same Memorial, in
manner as is aforesaid . . . Lords Journals, II. p. 662.
10. Petition of the House of Commons, July, i6io^
Most gracious and dread Sovereign . . . We do in all
humility present at the feet of your excellent Majesty our-
selves and our desires, full of confidence in the assurances of
your religious mind and princely disposition, that you will be
graciously pleased to give life and effect to these our petitions . . .
I. Whereas good and provident laws have been made for the
maintenance of God's true religion and safety of your Majesty's
royal person, issue and estate, against Jesuits, Seminary Priests
and Popish recusants ; . . . yet for that the laws are not
executed against the priests, who are the corrupters of the
people in religion and loyalty, and many recusants have already
compounded, . . . Your Majesty therefore would be pleased, at
the humble suit of your Commons in this present Parliament
assembled, ... to lay your royal command upon all your
ministers of justice, both ecclesiastical and civil, to see the
laws made against Jesuits, Seminary Piiests and recusants . . .
to be duly and exactly executed without di'ead or delay; and
that your Majesty would be pleased likewise to take into your
own hands the penalties due for recusancy, and that the same
be not converted to the private gain of some, to your infinite
loss, the emboldening of the Papists, and decay of true religion.
II. Whereas also divers painful and learned pastors, that
have long travelled in the work of the ministry with good
fruit and blessing of their labours, who were ever ready to
perform the legal subscription appointed by the Statute of the
13th of Elizabeth, which only concerneth the confession of the
^ It appears uncertain when this petition was presented. It was
answered by the King, along with the following grievances (see p. 202), on
33 July, 1610 (i. /. II. p. 658 : Pari. Debates, Camd. Soc. p. 123).
1610.] Petition for ecclesiastical reform. 301
true Christian faith and doctrine of the Saci^aments ^, yet, for
not conforming in points of ceremonies and refusing the sub-
scription directed by the late Canons, have been removed from
their ecclesiastical livings, being their freehold, and debarred
from all means of maintenance ; ... we therefore most humbly
beseech your Majesty would be graciously pleased, that sucli
deprived and silenced ministers may, by licence or permission
of the reverend fathers, in their several dioceses instruct and
preach unto their people, in such parishes and places where
they may be employed ; so as they apjily themselves in their
ministry to wholesome doctrine and exhortation and live
quietly and peaceably in their callings, and shall not by
writing or preaching impugn things established by public
authority.
III. Whereas likewise through plurality of benefices and
toleration of non-residency in many who possess not the meanest
of livings, with cure of souls, the people in divers places want
instruction ; . . . and where pluralists, heaping up many livings
into one hand, do by that means keep divers learned men from
maintenance, to the discouragement of students and the hind-
rance of learning, and the non-residents ... do leave the people
as a prey to the popish seducers : it might therefore please
your most excellent Majesty, for remedy of those evils in the
Church, to provide that dispensations for plurality of benefices
with cure of souls may be prohibited, and that the toleration of
non-residency may be restrained . . .
IV. And forasmuch as excommunication is the heaviest
censure for the most grievous offences which the Church doth
retain, yet [is] exercised and inflicted upon an incredible
number of the common people by the subordinate officers of the
jurisdiction ecclesiastical, most commonly for very small causes,
grounded upon the sole information of a base apparitor . . .
Wherefore your Majesty's most dutiful Commons most humbly
beseech your Highness that some due and fit reformation may
be had in the premises.
Fetyt, Jus Parliamentarium, pp. 316-318.
' 13 Eliz. 12, § I.
3oa James I. [leio.
11. Petition of tlie House of Commons, 7 July, 16 10.
To the King's most excellent Majesty.
Most gracious Sovereign, your Majesty's most humble
Commons assembled in Parliament, being moved as well out of
their duty and zeal to your Majesty, as out of the sense of just
grief wherevyith your loving subjects are generally through
the whole realm at this time possessed, because they perceive
their common and ancient right and liberty to be much declined
and infringed in these late years, do with all duty and humility
present these our just complaints thereof to your gracious view,
most instantly craving justice therein and due redress . . .
[I.] The policy and constitution of this your kingdom appro-
priates unto the kings of this realm, with the assent of the
Parliament, as well the sovereign power of making laws as
that of taxing or imposing upon the subjects' goods or merchan-
dizes, wherein they have justly such a pi-opriety as may not
without their consent be altered or changed . . .
We therefore, your ]Majesty's most humble Commons as-
sembled in Parliament, following the example of this worthy care
of our ancestors and out of a duty to those for whom we serve,
finding that your Majesty, without advice or consent of Parlia-
ment, hath lately in time of peace set both greater impositions
and far more in number than any your noble ancestors did
ever in time of war, have with all humility presumed to present
this mostjust and necessary petition unto your Majesty, That all
impositions set without the assent of Parliament may be quite
abolished and taken away; and that your Majesty, in imitation
likewise of your noble j^rogenitors, will be pleased, That a law
may be made during this Session of Parliament, to declare,
that all impositions set or to be set upon your people, their
goods or mei'chandises, save only by common assent in Parlia-
ment, are and shall be void . . .
[II.] Whereas by the Statute i Eliz. cap. i, intituled, an Act
restoring to the Crown the ancient jurisdiction over the state
ecclesiastical, &c., power was given to the Queen and her
successors to constitute and make a commission in causes
ecclesiastical ; the said Act is found to be inconvenient and of
dangerous extent in divers respects.
1610.] Impositions: High Commission, &c. 303
First, for that it enableth the making of such a commission
as well to any one subject born as to more.
Secondly, for that, whereas by the intention and words of
the Statute ecclesiastical jurisdiction is restored to the Crown,
and your Highness by that statute enabled to give only such
power ecclesiastical to the said commissioners, yet under
colour of some words in that statute, where the commissioners
are authorised to execute their commission according to the
tenour and effect of your Highness' letters patents and by
letters patents grounded thereupon, the said commissioners do
fine and imprison and exei'cise other authority not belonging
to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction restored by that statute : which
we conceive to be a great wrong to the subject . . .
Thirdly, for by the statute the king and his successors
(however your Majesty hath been pleased out of your gracious
disposition otherwise to order) may make and direct sucli com-
mission into all the counties and dioceses, yea, into every parish
of England ; and thereby all causes may be taken from juiis-
diction of bishops, chancellors and archdeacons, and laymen
solely enabled to excommunicate and exercise all other censures
spiritual.
Fourthly, that every petty offence pertaining to spiritual
jurisdiction is, by colour of the said words and letters patents
grounded thereupon, made subject to excommunication and
punishment by that strange and exorbitant power and com-
mission, whereby the least offenders, not committing anything
of any enormous or high nature, may be drawn from the most
remote places of the kingdom to London or York ; which is
very grievous and inconvenient.
Fifthly, for that limit touching causes subject to this com-
mission being only with these words, viz. ' such as pertain to
spiritual or ecclesiastical jurisdiction,' it is very hard to know
what matters or offences are included in that number . . .
And whereas upon the same statute a commission ecclesiastical
is made, therein is grievance apprehended thus :
(i) For that thereby the same men have both spiritual and
temporal jurisdiction, and may both force the party by oath to
accuse himself of any offence and also enquire thereof by
a jury, and lastly may inflict for the same offence at the same
304 James I. [1610.
time and by one and the same sentence both a spiritual and
temporal penalty \
(2) Whereas upon sentences of deprivation or other spiritual
censures given by force of ordinary jurisdiction an appeal lieth
for the party aggrieved, that is here excluded by express words
of the commission ; also here is to be a trial by jury, yet no
remedy by traverse or attaint ; neither can a man have any
vprit of error, though a judgment or sentence be given against
him, amounting to the taking away of all his goods and
imprisoning of him during life, yea to the adjudging him in
case of prae7nunire, whereby his lands are forfeited and he out
of the protection of the law.
(3) That whereas penal laws and offences against the same
cannot be determined in other courts or by other persons than
by those trusted by Parliament with the execution thereof, yet
the execution of many such statutes (divers whereof were made
since the tirst of Elizabeth) are commended and committed to
these Commissioners Ecclesiastical, who are either to inflict the
punishment contained in the statute, being praemunire and of
other high nature, and so enforce a man upon his own oath to
accuse and expose himself to those punishments, or else to
inflict other temporal punishments at their jileasure ; and yet
besides and after that done, the party shall be subject, in the
courts mentioned in the acts, to punishment by the same acts
appointed and inflicted : which we think very unreasonable.
(4) That the commission giveth authority to enforce men
called into question to enter into recognizance, not only for
appearance from time to time but also for performance of
whatsoever shall be by the commissioners ordered : and also
that it giveth jiower to enjoin parties, defendant or accused, to
pay such fees to the ministers of the court as by the commis-
sioners shall be thought fit.
And touching the execution of the commission, it is found
grievous these ways among other :
(i) For that laymen are by the Commissioners punished for
speaking (otherwise than in judicial places and courses) of the
simony and other misdemeanours of the spiritual men, though
' •' jurisdiction ' (Petyt).
1610.] High Commisst'on: Proclamations. 305
the thing spoken be true and the speech tending to the
inducing of some condign punishment.
(2) In that these commissioners usually appoint and allot to
women discontented at and unwilling to live with their husbands
such portion and allowance for present maintenance, as to them
shall seem meet, to the great encouragement to wives to be
disobedient and contemptuous against their husbands.
(3) In that their pursuivants and other ministers, employed
in the apprehension of suspected offenders in anything spiritual
and in the searching for any supposed scandalous books, use to
break open men's houses, closets and desks, rifling all corners
and secret custodies, as in cases of high treason or suspicion
thereof.
All which premises, amongst other things, considered, your
Majesty's most loyal and dutiful Commons in all humbleness
beseech you that, for the easing of them as well from the present
grievance as from the fear and possibility of greater in times
future, your Highness would vouchsafe your royal assent and
allowance to and for the ratifying of the said statute and the
reducing thereof, and consequently of the said commission, to
reasonable and convenient limits, by some Act to be passed in
the present session of Parliament.
[III.] Amongst many other points of happiness and freedom,
which your Majesty's subjects of this kingdom have enjoyed
under your royal progenitors, kings and queens of this realm,
there is none which they have accounted more dear and precious
than this, to be guided and governed by certain rule of law,
which giveth both to the head and members that which of right
belongeth to them, and not by any uncertain or arbitrary form
of Government . . . Out of this root hath grown the indubitable
right of the people of this kingdom, not to be made subject to
any punishment that shall extend to their lives, lands, bodies or
goods, other than such as are ordained by the common laws of
this land or the statutes made by their common consent in
Parliament.
Nevertheless it is apparent, both that proclamations have
been of late years much more frequent than heretofore, and
that they are extended not only to the liberty but also to the
goods, inheritances and livelihood of men ; some of them
X
3o6 James I. [leio.
tending to alter some points of the law and make them new :
othei" some made shortly after a session of parliament, for
matter directly rejected in the same session : others appointing
punishments to be inflicted befoie lawful trial and conviction :
some containing penalties in form of penal statutes : some
referring the punishment of offenders to the courts of arbitrary
discretion, which have laid heavy and grievous censures upon
the delinquents : some, as the proclamation for starch, accom-
panied with letters commanding enquiry to be made against the
transgressors at the quarter sessions: . . . and some vouching
former proclamations, to countenance and warrant the latter . . .
By reason whereof there is a general fear conceived and spread
amongst your Majesty's people, that proclamations will by de-
grees grow up and increase to the strength and nature of laws:
whereby not only that ancient happiness, freedom, will be
much blemished if not quite taken away, which their ancestors
have so long enjoyed, but the same may also in process of time
bi'ing a new form of arbitrary government upon the realm . . .
We therefore, your Majesty's humble subjects, the Commons
in this Parliament assembled, taking these matters into our
consideration and weighing how much it doth concern your
Majesty, both in honour and safety, that such impressions
should not be enforced to settle in your subjects' minds, have
thought it to appertain to our duties, as well toward your
Majesty as to those that have trusted and sent us to their
service, to present unto your Majesty's view these fears and
griefs of your people, and to become humble suitors unto your
Majesty, that thenceforth no fine or forfeiture of goods or other
pecuniary or corporal punishment may be inflicted upon your
subjects (other than restraint of liberty, which we also humbly
beseech may be but upon urgent necessity, and to continue but
till other order may be taken by course of law), unless they
shall offend against some law or statute of this realm in force
at the time of their offence committed : and for greater assur-
ance and comfort of your people, that it will please your
Majesty to declare your royal pleasure to that purpose, either
by some law to be made in this session of parliament or by some
such other course (whereof your people may take knowledge),
as to your princely wisdom shall seem most convenient . . .
1621.] Wales: Religion. 307
[IV.] Forasmuch as the exercise of authority over the counties
of Gloucester, Hereford, Wigorn and Salop by the President
and Council of Wales, by way of instructions upon a Pretext of
statute ^ made in the thirty-fourth j'ear of the reign of King
Henry VIII, is conceived not to be warranted by that or any
other law of this realm of England . . . : it is therefore the most
humble petition of the Commons in this present parliament
assembled, that your most excellent Majesty will also be pleased
to command that the judges may deliver their opinion . . . con-
cerning the right of the aforesaid jurisdiction over those four
counties, by force of that statute : . . . and that if the said
jurisdiction over tliese four counties shall appear to your
Majesty by the opinion of the judges or otherwise not to be
warranted by law, that then your Majesty will be pleased, out
of your most princely and gracious favour towards all your
loyal, dutiful subjects, to order the ceasing of the said juris-
diction over those counties . . .
Petyt, Jus Parliamentarium, pp. 319-331.
12. Petition of the House of Commons, 3 Dec, 1621^.
Most gracious and dread Sovereign : We, your Majesty's
most humble and loyal subjects, the knights, citizens and bur-
gesses now assembled in parliament, . . . finding how ill your
Majesty's goodness hath been requited by princes of different
religion, who even in time of treaty have taken opportunities
to advance their own ends, tending to the subversion of religion,
and disadvantage of your affairs and the estate of your chil-
dren ; by reason whereof your ill-affected subjects at home, the
popish recusants, have taken too much encouragement, and
are dangerously increased in their number and in their in-
solencies, we cannot but be sensible thereof, and therefore
humbly represent what we conceive to be the causes of so great
and growing mischiefs, and what be the remedies.
I. The vigilancy and ambition of the Pope of Rome and his
dearest son ; the one aiming at as large a temporal monarchy,
as the other at a spiritual supremacy. 2. The devilish positions
^ 34 and 35 H. VIII, 26.
* This petition was passed by the House on 3 Dec, 162 i (C /. I. p. 655),
but stopped by the following letter from the King (p. 310).
3o8 • James I. [ie2i.
and doctrines whereon popery is built and taught with authority
to their followers, for the advancement of their temporal ends.
3. The distressed and miserable estate of the professors of our
religion in foreign parts. 4. The disastrous accidents to your
Majesty's children abroad ... 5. The strange confederacy of
the princes of the popish religion ... 6. The great and many
armies raised and maintained at the charge of the king of
Spain, the chief of that league. 7. The expectation of the
popish recusants of the match -with Spain, and feeding them-
selves with great hopes of the consequences thereof. 8. The
interposing of foreign princes and their agents in the behalf
of popish recusants ... 9. Their open and usual resort to the
houses and, which is worse, to the chapels of foreign ambas-
sadors. 10. Their more than usual concourse to the city, and
their frequent conventicles and conferences there. 1 1 . The
education of their children in many several seminaries and
houses of their religion in foreign parts, appropriated to the
English fugitives. 12. The grants of their just forfeitures . . .
transferred or comj^ounded for at such mean rates, as will
amount to little less than a toleration. 13. The licentious
printing and dispersing of popish and seditious books, even in
the time of parliament. 14. The swarms of priests and Jesuits,
the common incendiaries of all Christendom, dispersed in all
parts of your kingdom.
And from these causes, as bitter roots, we humbly offer to
your Majesty that we foresee and fear there will necessarily
follow very dangerous effects both to church and state. For,
I. The popish religion is incompatible with ours, in respect of
their positions. 2. It draweth with it an unavoidable de-
pendency on foreign princes. 3. It openeth too wide a gap
for i^opulurity to any who shall draw too great a party. 4. It
hath a restless spirit, and will strive by these gradations : if it
once get but a connivance, it will press for a toleration ; if that
should be obtained, they must have an equality ; from thence
they will aspire to superiority, and will never rest till they get
a subversion of the true religion.
The remedies against these growing evils, which in all
humility we offer unto your most excellent Majesty, are these.
I. That, seeing this inevitable necessity is fallen upon your
1621.] Petition about Religion. 309
Majesty which no wisdom or providence of a peaceable and
pious king can avoid, your ^Majesty would not omit this just
occasion, speedily and effectually to take your sword into your
hand. 2. That, once undertaken upon so honourable and just
grounds, your Majesty would resolve to pursue and more
publicly avow the aiding of those of our religion in foreign
parts; which doubtless would reunite the princes and states of
the union, by these disasters disheartened and disbanded.
3. That your Majesty would propose to yourself to manage this
war with the best advantage, by a diversion or otherwise, as in
your deep judgment shall be found fittest ; and not to rest
upon a war in these parts only, which will consume your
treasure and discourage your people. 4. That the bent of this
war and point of your sword may be against that prince
(whatsoever opinion of potency he hath), whose armies and
treasures have first diverted and since maintained the war in
the Palatinate. 5. That, for securing of our peace at home, your
Majesty would l)e pleased ... to put in execution, by the care
of choice commissioners to be thereunto especially appointed,
the laws already and hereafter to be made for preventing of
dangers by popish recusants and their wonted evasions. 6.
That, to frustrate their hopes for a future age, our most noble
prince may be timely and happily married to one of our own
religion. 7. That the children of the nobility and gentry of
this kingdom and of others ill-affected and suspected in their
religion, now beyond the seas, may be forthwith called home by
your means, and at the charge of their parents or governors.
8. That the children of popish recusants or such whose wives
are popish recusants be brought up, during their minority,
with protestant schoolmasters and teachers, who may sow in
their tender years the seeds of true religion. 9. That your
Majesty will be pleased speedily to revoke all former licences
for such children and youth to travel beyond the seas, and not
grant any such licence hereafter. 10. That your Majesty's
learned council may receive commandment from your Highness
carefully to look into former grants of recusants' lands, and to
avoid them if by law they can ; and that your Majesty will
stay your hand from passing any such grants heieafter.
This is the sum and effect of our humble declaration, which
310 James I. [i62i.
we (no ways intending to press upon your Majesty's undoubted
and regal prerogative) do witli the fulness of our duty and
obedience humbly submit to your most princely considera-
tion . . Rushworth, I. p. 40.
13. The KiiKjs letter to the House of Commons, 3 Dec, 162 1 ^
To our trusty and well-beloved Sir Thomas Richardson,
Knight, Speaker of the House of Commons.
!Mr Speaker : AVe have heard by divers reports, to our
great grief, that our distance from the Houses of Parliament,
caused by our indisposition of health, hath emboldened some
fiery and popular spirits of some of the House of Commons to
argue and debate publicly of matters far above their reach
and capacity, tending to our high dishonour and breach of
prerogative royal. These are therefore to command you to
make known in our name unto the House, that none therein
shall presume henceforth to meddle with anything concerning
our government or deep matters of state, and namely, not to
deal with our dearest son's match with the daughter of Spain,
nor to touch the honour of that king or any other our friends
and confederates : and also not to meddle with any men's par-
ticulars, which have their due motion iu our ordinary courts of
justice.
And whereas we hear that they have sent a message to Sir
Edwin Sandys, to know the reasons of his late restraint ^, you
shall in our name resolve them, that it was not for any mis-
demeanour of his in parliament : but, to put them out of doubt
of any question of that nature that may arise among them
hereafter, you shall resolve them in our name. That we think
ourself very free and able to punish any man's misdemeanours
in parliament as well during their sitting as after ; which we
mean not to spare hereafter, upon any occasion of any man's
insolent behaviour there that shall be ministered unto us.
And, if they have already touched any of these points which
we have forbidden, in any petition of theirs which is to be
sent unto us, it is our jdeasure that you shall tell them, That,
^ Kead in the House on Dec. 4 (C. J. I. p. 658).
^ He was imprisoned (with others) on June 16, and released on July 16.
1621.] Petition about Freedom of Speech. 311
except they reform it before it comes to our bands, we will not
deign the bearing nor answering of it.
Dated at Newmarket, 3 December, 1621.
liunhworth, I. p. 43.
14. Petition of the House of Commons, 9 Dec, 1621 \
Most dread and gracious Sovereign : We your most humble
and loyal subjects, the knights, citizens and burgesses as-
sembled in the Commons House of Parliament, ... in all
humbleness beseech your most excellent Majesty that the
loyalty and dutifulness of as faithful and loving subjects as
ever served or lived under a gracious sovereign may not un-
deservedly suffer by the misinformation of partial and uncertain
reports, which are ever unfaithful intelligencers : but that your
Majesty would, in the clearness of your own judgment, first
vouchsafe to understand from ourselves, and not from others,
what our humble Declaration and Petition, resolved upon by
the universal voice of the House, and proposed, with your
gracious favour, to be presented unto your sacred Majesty, doth
contain. [A summary of the petition (No. 12, above) follows.]
This being the effect of what we had formerly resolved upon,
and these the occasions and reasons inducing the same, our
humble suit to your Majesty and confidence is, That your
Majesty will be graciously pleased to receive, at the hands of
these our messengers, our former humble Declaration and
Petition, and vouchsafe to read and favourably to interpret the
same : . . . and whereas your Majesty, by the general words of
your letter, seemeth to restrain us from intermeddling with
matters of government or particulars which have their motion
in the courts of justice, the generality of which words, in the
lai'geness of the extent thereof (as we hope beyond your
Majesty's intention), might involve those things which are the
])roper subjects of parliamentary occasions and discourse : and
whereas your Majesty doth seem to abridge us of the ancient
liberty of parliament for freedom of speech, jurisdiction and
just censure of the House, and other proceedings there (where-
' Debated on Dec. 5, 6, and 7 ; passed by the House on Dec. 8 (C. J. I.
pp. 658-661), and presented to the King on Dec. 10 (^ibid. p. 663).
312 James I. [i62i.
in we trust in God we sliall never transgress the bounds of
loyal and dutiful subjects), a liberty which, we assure ourselves,
so wise and so just a king will not infringe, the same being our
ancient and undoubted right and an inheritance received from
our ancestors, without which we cannot freely debate nor
clearly discern of things in (juestion before us, nor truly inform
your Majesty ; ... we are therefore now again enforced, in all
humbleness, to pray your Majesty to allow the same, and
thereby to take away tlie doubts and scruples your Majesty's
late letter to our Speaker hath wrought upon us . . .
Rushworth, I. p. 44.
15. The King's answer, 10 Dec, 1621 ^
. . . Now whereas, in the very beginning of this your apology,
you tax us, in fair tern}S, of trusting uncertain reports and
partial informations concerning your proceedings, we wish you
to remember tliat we are an old and experienced king, needing
no such lessons, being, in our conscience, freest of any king
alive from hearing or trusting idle reports ; which so many of
your House as are nearest us can bear witness unto you, if you
would give as good ear to them as you do to some tribunitial
orators among you . . .
In the body of your petition, you usurp upon our prerogative
royal and meddle with things far above your reach, and then in
the conclusion you protest the contrary ; as if a robber would
take a man's purse and then protest he meant not to rob him . . .
And touching your excuse of not determining anything concern-
ing the match of our dearest son, but only to tell 3'our opinion
and lay it down at our feet, first we desire to know how you
could have presumed to determine in that point without com-
mitting of high treason 1 . . . And as to your request that we
would now receive your former petition, we wonder what could
make you presume that we would receive it, whereas in our
former letter we plainly declared the contrary unto you. And
therefore we have justly rejected that suit of yours, for what
have you left unattempted in the highest points of sovereignty
in that petition of yours, except the striking of coin ? . . . These
^ Given on Dec. 10, and read in the House on Dec. 14 (C J. I. p. 663).
1621.] Protestation for Freedom of Speech. 313
are unfit things to be handled in parliament, except your king
should require it of you : . . . and therefoie, ne, sutor ultra cre-
pidam . , .
And although we cannot allow of the style, calling it your
ancient and undoubted right and inheritance, but could rather
have wished that ye had said that your privileges were derived
from the grace and permission of our ancestors and us (for most
of them grow from precedents, which shows rather a toleration
than inheritance), yet we are pleased to give you our royal
assurance, that as long as you contain yourself within the limits
of your duty, we will be as careful to maintain and preserve
your lawful liberties and privileges, as ever any of our prede-
cessors were, nay, as to preserve our own royal prerogative ^ ; so
as your House shall only have need to beware to trench upon
the prerogative of the crown ; which would enforce us, or any
just king, to retrench them of their privileges, that would pare
his pi'erogative and flowers of the ci'own : but of this, we hope,
there shall never be cause given.
Dated at Newmarket, 11 Dec, 1621.
Rushworth, I. p. 46.
16. Protestation of the House of Commons, 18 Dec, 1621 -.
The Commons now assembled in parliament, being justly
occasioned thereunto, concerning sundry liberties, franchises
and privileges of parliament amongst others here mentioned, do
make this protestation following : That the liberties, franchises,
privileges and jurisdictions of parliament are the ancient and
undoubted birthright and inheritance of the subjects of England;
and that the arduous and urgent affairs concerning the king,
^ In another letter, dated Dec. i6, read in tlie House on Dec. 17, the
King says, ' The plain truth is, that we cannot with patience endure our
subjects to use such antimoiiai'chical words to us concerning their liberties,
except they had subjoined that they were granted unto them by the grace
and favour of our predecessors' {Pari. Hid. p. 1350).
^ '18 Dec, 1621, p.m. Mr Speaker taking his chair, Mr Sergeant
Ashley, from the Grand Committee, presenteth to the House a draft of the
Protestation concerning the privileges of the House. The Protestation
read several times and, upon question, allowed and ordered to be presently
entered of record in the journal of the House' {C. J. I. p. 668). ' In the
margin is written, " King James, in Council, with his own hand rent out
this Protestation " ' {ibid. note).
314 James I. [ie2i.
state and defence of the realm, and of the church of England,
and the maintenance and making of laws, and redress of
mischiefs and grievances which daily happen within this realm,
are proper subjects and matter of counsel and debate in parlia-
ment : and that in the handling and proceeding of those
businesses every member of the House of Parliament hath and
of light ought to have freedom of speech, to propound, treat,
reason and bring to conclusion the same : and that the Commons
in parliament have like liberty and freedom to treat of these
matters in such order as in their judgments shall seem fittest :
and that every member of the said House hath like freedom
from all impeachment, imprisonment and molestation (other
than by censure of the House itself) for or concerning any
speaking, reasoning or declaring of any matter or matters
touching the parliament or parliament business ; and that, if
any of the said members be complained of and questioned for
anything done or said in parliament, the same is to be shewed
to the king by the advice and assent of all the Commons
assembled in Parliament, before the king give credence to any
private information. Eushworth, I. p. 53.
17. The King's Proclamation on dissolving Parliament,
6 Jan. 1622.
A Proclamation for dissolving this present Parliament.
Albeit the assembling, continuing and dissolving of par-
liament be a prerogative so peculiarly belonging to our
imperial crown, and the times and seasons thereof so absolutely
in our own power, that we need not give account thereof unto
any ; yet according to our continual custom to make our good
subjects acquainted with the reasons of all our public resolutions
and actions, we have thought it expedient at this time to
declare not only our pleasure and resolution therein, grounded
upon mature deliberation, with the advice and uniform con-
sent of our whole privy council, but therewith also to note
some special proceedings moving us to this resolution . . .
This Parliament was by us called, as for making good and
profitable laws, so more especially, in this time of miserable
distraction throughout Christendom, for the better settling of
1622.] Dissolution of Parliament. 315
peace and religion and restoring our children to their ancient
and lawful patrimony . . . This parliament, beginning in January
last, proceeded some months with such harmony between us and
our people as cannot be parallelled by any former time ; for as
the House of Commons at the first, both in the manner of their
supply and otherwise, shewed gi^eater love and more respect
than ever any House of Commons did to us or, as we think, to
any king before us; so we upon all their complaints have
aflForded them such memorable and rare examples of justice ^ as
many ages past cannot shew the like ; . . . and although, after
their first recess at Easter, we found that they mis-spent a great
deal of time, . . . yet we gave them time and scope for their
parliamentary proceedings and prolonged the session to an
unusual length . . .
But during the time of this long recess'^ having to our great
charges mediated with the Emperor by the means of our
ambassador, the Lord Digby, and having found those hopes to
fail which we had to prevail by treaty, we in confidence of the
assistance of our people, thus freely promised and protested in
parliament, did . . . reassemble our parliament the 20th day of
November last, and made known unto them the true state and
necessity of our children's affairs ; . . . wherein, howbeit we are
well satisfied of the good inclination of most part of our House
of Commons, testified by their ready assent to the speedy pay-
ment of a subsidy newly to be granted, yet, upon this occasion,
some particular members of that House took such inordinate
liberty, not only to treat of our high prerogatives and of sundry
things that, without our special direction, were no fit subjects
to be treated of in parliament, but also to speak with less respect
of foreign jDrinces, our allies, than was fit for any subject to do
of any anointed king, though in enmity and hostility with us.
And when, ujion this occasion, we used some reprehension
touching those miscarriages, requiring them not to proceed but
in such things as were within the caj^acity of that House
according to the continual custom of our predecessors, then, by
the means of some evil-affected and discontented persons, such
heat and distemper was raised in the House, that, albeit them-
^ For instance, in the oases of Bacon, Michell, Mompesson, &c.
^ From June to November, 1621.
3i6 James I. [ie22.
selves had sued unto us for a session and for a general pardon,
unto both which at their earnest suit we assented, yet after this
fire kindled they rejected both, and setting apart all businesses
of consequence and weight, notwithstanding our admonition and
earnest pressing them to go forv/ard, they either sat as silent
or spent the time in disputing of privileges, descanting upon
the words and syllables of our letters and messages ; . . . and, not-
withstanding the sincerity of our protestations not to invade
their privileges, yet, by persuasion of such as had been the
cause of all these distempers, they fall to carve for themselves ;
and pretending, causelessly, to be occasioned thereunto, in an
unseasonable hour of the day and a very thin house, contrary
to their own customs in all matters of weight, conclude and
enter a protestation for their liberties, in such ambiguous and
general words as might serve for future times to invade most of
our inseparable rights and prerogative annexed to our imperial
crown, whereof, not only in the times of other our progenitors
but in the blessed reign of our late predecessor, that -renowned
queen Elizabeth, we found our crown actually possessed ; an
usurpation that the majesty of a king can by no means endure.
By all which may appear that, howsoever in the general pro-
ceedings of that House there are many footsteps of loving and
well-aifected duty towards us, yet some ill-tempered spirits
have sowed tares among the corn, and thereby fnistrated the
hope of that plentiful and good harvest, which might have
multiplied the wealth and welfare of this whole land, and by
their cunning diversions have imposed upon us a necessity of
discontinuing this present parliament without putting unto it
the name or period of a session.
And therefore, whereas the said assembly of parliament was
by our commission adjourned till the 8th day of February now
next ensuing, we, minding not to continue the same any longer,
. . . have thought fit to signify this our resolution, with the
reasons thereof, unto all our subjects inhabiting in all parts of
this realm ; willing and requiring the said prelates, noblemen
and states, and also the said knights, citizens and burgesses, and
all others to whom in this case it shall appertain, that they
forbear to attend at the day and place prefixed by the said
adjournment . . .
1624.] Address on Foreign Affairs. 317
And albeit we are at this time enforced to break ofif this
convention of parliament, yet our will and desire is that all our
subjects should take notice, for avoiding of all sinister sus-
picions and jealousies, that our intent and full resolution is to
govern our people in the same manner as our progenitors and
predecessors, kings and queens of this realm, of best government,
have heretofore done ; . . . and that we shall be as glad to lay
hold on the first occasion in due and convenient time, which we
hope shall not be long, to call and assemble our parliament
with confidence of the true and hearty love and affection of our
subjects, as either we or any of our progenitors have at any
time heretofore.
[Dated at Westminster, Jan. 6.]
Rymer's Fcedera, XVII. p. 344.
18. Address of both Houses to the King, 8 March, 1624'.
May it please your most excellent Majesty : We are come
unto you, employed from your most faithful subjects and servants,
the Lords and Commons assembled in this present parliament.
And first, they and we do give most humble and hearty thanks
to Almighty God, that, out of his gracious goodness, he hath
been pleased, now at last, to dispel that cloud and mists, which
for so many years hath dimmed the eyes of a great part of Chris-
tendom in that business whereof we do now consult. And
secondly, we acknowledge ourselves most bound unto your Majesty,
that you have been pleased to require the humble advice of us
your obedient subjects in a case so imj)ortant as this, which
hitherto dependeth between your Majesty and the king of Spain;
which we jointly ofier from both Houses, no one person therein
dissenting or disagreeing from the rest. And that is. That upon
mature consideration, and weighing many particulars of sundry
natures, finding so much want of sincerity in all their proceed-
ings, we, su2>er totam materiam, present this our humble advice
unto your Majesty; That the treaties, both for the marriage
and the Palatinate, may not any longer be continued with the
honour of your Majesty, the safety of your people, the welfare
^ Approved by the House of Commons on March 5 (C. /. I. p. 729), and
presented to the King the same day {L. J. III. p. 250).^
31 8 . James I. [ie24.
of your children and posterity, as also the assurance of your
ancient allies and confederates. Lords' Journals, III. p. 250.
19. Address of both Houses to the King, 22 March, 1624 \
Most gracious Sovereign,
We your Majesty's most humble and loyal subjects, the Lords
and Commons in this present parliament assembled, . . . most
ready and willing to give your Majesty and the whole world
an ample testimony of our sincere and dutiful intentions herein,
have upon mature advice and deliberation, as well of the weight
and importance of this great affair, as of the present estate of
this your kingdom (the weal and safety whereof is, in our
judgments, apparently threatened, if your Majesty's resolution
for the dissolving of the treaties now in question be longer
deferred, and that provision for the defence of j'our realm and
aid of your friends and allies be not seasonably made), with
a cheerful consent of all the Commons, no one dissenting, and
with a full and cheerful consent of us the Lords, resolved ;
That, upon your Majesty's public declaration of the utter
dissolution and discharge of the two treaties of the marriage
and Palatinate, in pursuit of our advice therein, and towards
the support of that war which is likely to ensue, and more
particularly for those four points proposed by your j\Tajesty,
namely for the defence of this realm, the securing of Ireland,
the assistance of your neighbours the states of the United
Provinces and others your Majesty's friends and allies, and
for the setting forth of your royal navy, we will grant for
the present the greatest aid which was ever granted in
parliament to be levied in so short time, that is to say, three
entire subsidies and three fifteenths, to be all paid within the
compass of one whole year after your Majesty shall be pleased
to make the said declaration ; the money to be paid into
the hands and expended by the direction of such committees or
commissioners, as hereafter shall be agreed upon in this present
session of parliament . . . Lords Journals, III. p. 275.
^ Approved by the Houses on March 22, and presented to the King on
Marcli 23 (L. J. III. pp. 275 ff., and C. J. I. pp. 746 flf.).
1624.] Foreign Affairs and Recusants. 319
20. Address of both Houses to the King, 10 Ai^ril, 1624.
May it please your most excellent Majesty : It having pleased
your Majesty, upon our humble suit and advice, to dissolve both
the treaties, to our great joy and comfort, we, your Majesty's
most faithful and loyal subjects, the Lords and Commons
assembled in parliament, do in all humbleness oft'er unto your
sacred Majesty these two petitions following :
First, That for the more safety of your realms and better
keeping your subjects in their due obedience and other import-
ant reasons of state, your Majesty will be pleased, by some
such course as your Majesty shall think fit, to give present
order, That all the laws be put in due execution, which have
been made and do stand in force against Jesuits, seminary
priests and all others that have taken orders by authority
derived from the see of Rome, and generally against all Popish
recusants ; and as for disarming, that it may be according to
the laws and according to former acts and directions of state
in the like case : and yet, that it may appear to all the world,
the favour and clemency your Majesty useth towards all your
subjects of what condition soever, and to the intent the Jesuits
and priests now in the realm may not pretend to be surprised,
that a speedy and certain day may be prefixed by your Majesty's
proclamation, before which day they shall depart out of this
realm and all other your Highness's dominions ; and neither
they nor any other to return or come hither again, upon peril
of the severest penalties of the laws now in force against them ;
and that all your Majesty's subjects may thereby also be ad-
monished not to receive, entertain, comfort or conceal any of
them, upon the penalties and forfeitures which by the laws may
be imposed upon them.
Secondly, Seeing we are thus happily delivered from that
danger, to which those treaties (now dissolved) and that use
which your ill-affected subjects made thereof would certainly
have drawn upon us, and yet cannot but foresee and fear lest
the like may hereafter happen, which would inevitably bring
such peril unto your Majesty's kingdoms, we are most humble
suitors to your gracious Majesty to secure the hearts of your
good subjects by the engagement of your royal word unto them.
320 James I. [1604.
That, upon no occasion of marriage or treaty or other request
in that behalf from any foreign prince or state whatsoever, you
will take away or slacken the execution of your laws against
Jesuits, priests and popish recusants. To which our humble
petitions ... we do most humbly beseech your Majesty to
vouchsafe a gracious answer. Lord* Journals, II [. p. 298.
II. Privileges and Judicature.
1. Privilege of Freedom from Arrest.
Case of Sir Thomas Shirley, 1604.
(a) Debates in tlie House of Commons, <i:c.
Die Jovis, 22° Martii i6o3[-4] . . . This being a motion
tending to matter of privilege ' was recorded with another by
Mr Serjeant Shirley, touching an arrest made on the 1 5th of
March last, . . . four days before the sitting of the parliament,
upon the body of Sir Thomas Shirley, elected one of the
burgesses for the borough of Steyning, ... at the suit of one
Gyles Sympson, a goldsmith, by one William Watkjms, a Ser-
jeant at mace, and Thomas Aram, his yeoman ; and prayed
that the body of the said Sir Thomas might be freed, according
to the known privilege of the House.
Hereupon the House, in affirmation of their own privilege,
assented and ordered, That a warrant according to the ancient
form should be directed, under the hand of Mr Speaker, to the
Clerk of the Crown, for the granting of a writ of Habeas
Corpus to bring the body of the said Sir Thomas into the
house . . .
The form of the warrant was :
Jovis 220 Martii, 1603.
It is this day ordered and required by the Commons House
of parliament that a writ of Habeas Corpus be awarded for the
bringing of the body of Sir Thomas Shirley knight, one of the
^ The reference is to a motion in the case of Goodwin and Fortescue.
1604.] Shirley s case. 321
members of this House and now prisoner in the Fleet, into the
said House, upon Tuesday next, at eight a clock in the morning,
according to the ancient privilege and custom in that behalf
used. And this shall be your warrant. Your loving friend,
Edward Phelips, Speaker.
Directed, To my very loving friend, Sir George Coppyn
knight, Clerk of the Crown in his Majesty's High Court of
Chancery.
Upon this warrant issued a writ of Habeas Corpus . . .
The Serjeant of the House was also commanded by the House
to bring in at the same time the bodies of W. Watkyns, the
Serjeant, and T. Aram, his yeoman . . .
[27 March] . . . This day the writ oi Habeas Corpus, formerly
awarded by order of the House for the bringing in of the body
of Sir T. Shirley . . . was returned by the warden of the Fleet,
the prisoner himself brought to the bar, and Simpson, the gold-
smith, and AVatkjTis, the serjeant at mace, as delinquents,
brought in by the serjeant of tlie House . . . Mr Speaker pro-
posed divers questions to be answered by the said offenders . . .
Tlie case being understood by the House and the parties with-
drawn, sundry learned members delivered their opinion, both in
the point of privilege and in the point of law . . . The dispute
ended for this day with ... a motion that a special committee
might be named for the consideration of all the questions and
doubts in this case ; and thei'eupon were named [a committee
of 18] . . .
[After an adjournment for the Easter recess.]
[11 April] . . . Mr Hitcham reporteth the travel of the com-
mittees in Sir T. Shii'ley's case . . . Upon this report, the
question was moved, . . . Whether Simpson, the serjeant, and
his yeoman should be committed, viz. to the Tower, the proper
prison of the House. Eesolved, that they should be committed
. . . According to former order, a wai'rant for a wi'it of Habeas
Corpus to bring in the body of Sir T. Shirley issued . . .
A warrant was also directed for the bringing in of Simpson . . .
and Watkins, ... to this effect :
Whereas Gyles Sympson and William AVatkins have com-
mitted a manifest contempt against the privileges of this
parliament and now remain prisoners in the Fleet, it is
Y
322 James I. [1604.
required by the Commons House of Parliament, that you
take the bodies of the said Gyles and William into your
custody and bring them into the said House upon Friday the
13th of this month at S a clock in the morning, to answer to
such matters as shall be objected to them. And this shall be
your warrant.
Directed, To my loving friend Mr Roger AVood esquire, . . .
Serjeant of the Commons House of Parliament.
[13 Aj^ril] . . . Counsel in Sir T. Shirley's case came to the
bar . . . Oi'dered, upon this argument, That Simpson . . . and
Watkins ... be committed to the prison of the Tower.
[8 May] . . . Sir T. Shirley's case remembered by Sir John
Shirley, and moved that a warrant might be directed from this
House for committing the warden of the Fleet close prisoner in
the Tower. "Which was ordered and done in this form : Whereas
the Serjeant at arms, attendant upon the Commons House of
Parliament, was by order and commandment sent to bring the
body of Sir Thomas Shirley knight, one of the members of the
House and now prisoner in the Fleet, into the said House,
according to their known privilege, and the warden of the Fleet
being required by the same order to deliver him did deny to
do it, to the manifest contempt of the said privilege; it is this
day ordered. That the serjeant shall apprehend the body of the
said warden and convey him to the prison of the Tower and
there deliver him to the lieutenant, with direction in the name
of the House that he be committed close prisoner until the
further pleasure of the House be known. And this shall be to
the said serjeant and lieutenant a suffic'ent warrant. Edw.
Phelips, Sj)eaker.
. . . The warden of the Fleet was brought to the bar by the
serjeant, and being charged with his obstinacy and contempt he
offereth the writ of Habeas Corjnis, with the return, which was
read as followeth :
Jacobus Dei gratia [etc.] guaidiano prisouae nostrae de le
Fleet salutem. Praecipimus tibi quod habeas coram nobis, in
praesenti parliamento nostro apud Westm., in die Martis octavo
die instantis mensis Maii, circa horam octavam ante meridiem
ejusdem diei, corpus Thomae Shirley militis, capti et in
prisona nostra sub custodia tua, ut dicitur, deteuti, quocunque
1604.] Shirley s case. 323
nomine aut cognoraine idem Thomas censeatur, una cum causa
captionis et detentionis ejusdem Thomae, ad respondendum
super hiis quae sibi tunc ibidem objicientur, et ad faciendum
ulterius et recipiendum quod per nos in parliamento nostro
praedicto consideratum et ordinatum fuerit. Et hoc nullatenus
omittas, sicut nobis inde respondere volueris. Et habeas ibi
hoc breve. Teste meipso, aj)ud Westm., septimo die Maii, anno
regni nostri . . . secundo . . .
Responsum Johannis Trench armigeri, gardiani : Ego Jo-
hannes Trench armiger, gardianus prisonae Domini Regis de
le Fleet, Domino Regi in parliamento suo certifico, quod istud
breve adeo tarde mihi advenit quod corpus infra nominati
Tiiomae Shirley ad diem, horam et locum infi-a content, habere
non potui, jorout interius mihi praecipitur.
[The warden was then examined at the bar and, refusing to
discharge Sir T. Shirley at the bidding of the House, was com-
mitted to the Tower. The serjeant was again sent to the Fleet
and in vain demanded the release of the prisoner.]
[i I Mayj . . . The House finding him [the warden] still
perverse, . . . Mr Speaker pronounced his judgment (as he was
formerly directed), that, as he doth increase his contempt, so the
House thought fit to increase his punishment, and that their
resolution was now, he should be committed to the prison called
Little Ease, in the Tower [which was accordingly done.]
[15 May. The warden having at length offered to discharge
his prisoner, Sir T. Shirley was released, and being admitted
took the oath and his seat.]
[19 May] . . . The warden of the Fleet, attending at the door,
was called in and, on his knees at the bar, confessed his error
and presumption and professed that he was unfeignedly sorry
that he had so offended this honourable House. Upon this his
submission, Mr Speaker, by direction of the House, pronounced
his pardon and discharge.
Commons Journals, I. pp. 149-214.
Y 2
324 James I. [1604.
(b) Shirley's Act.
I Jac. I. Private Acts, Cap. 10,
An Act to secure the debt of Sim-pson and others, and save harm-
less tlie warden of the Fleet in Sir Thomas Shirley's case.
Humbly pray the Commons of this present parliament that,
whereas Thomas Shirley knight, which came by your High-
ness' commandment to this your present parliament, being
elected and returned a burgess for the borough of Steyning in
your Highness' county of Sussex, was iijoon the 15th day of
March last past arrested by the sheriff of London at the suit of
one Giles Simpson first upon an action of debt, and afterwards
the same day laid and detained in execution upon a recognisance,
of the nature of the statute staple, of £3000, in the prison
commonly called the Compter in the Poultry in London, at the
suit of the said Simpson, and from thence by Habeas Corpus
was removed to your Majesty's prison of the Fleet, . . . contrary
to the liberties, privilege and freedom accustomed and due to
the Commons of your Highness' parliament, who have ever used
to enjoy the freedom in coming to and returning from the
parliament and sitting there without restraint or molestation,
and it concerneth your Commons greatly to have this freedom
and privilege inviolably observed ; yet, to the end that no person
be prejudiced or damnified hereby. May it please your High-
ness by the assent of the Lords spiritual and temporal and
Commons in this piesent parliament assembled, and by the
authority of the same, it may be ordained and enacted. That the
said sheriff of London, the now warden of the Fleet, and all
others that have had the said Thomas in custody since the said
first arrest . . . may not nor shall in any wise be hurt, endamaged
or grieved because of dismissing at large the said Thomas
Shirley : saving always to the said Giles Simpson and other the
persons before said, at whose suit the said Thomas is detained
in prison, their executions and suits at all times after the end
of this present session of parliament to be taken out and
prosecuted as if the said Thomas had never been arrested or
taken in execution, and as if such actions had never been
brought or sued against him ; saving also to your Majesty's
1604.] Bucks Election. 325
said Commons called now to this your parliament, and their
successors, their whole liberties, franchises and privileges in all
ample form and manner, as your Highness' said Commons at
any time before this day have had, used and enjoyed and ought
to have, use and enjoy, this present act and petition in any
wise notwithstanding.
From the original in the Varliament Office.
2. Eight of Examining Keturns.
(a) Buckinghamshire Election, 1604.
[House of Commons.] Die Jovis, 220 Martii, i6o3[-4] . . .
Tlie first motion was made by Sir William Fleetwood, one of
the knights returned for the county of Bucks, on the behalf of
Sir Francis Goodwin knight, who, upon the first writ of
summons directed to the sheriff of Bucks, was elected the first
knight for that shire : but, the return of his election being
made, it was refused by the clerk of the crown, quia utlagatus :
and because Sir .John Fortescue, upon a second writ, was
elected and entered in that place, his desire was that this
return might be examined and Sir Francis Goodwin received
as a member of the House. The House gave way to the
motion ; and for a more deliberate and judicial proceeding in
a case of privilege so important to the House, ordered,
That the serjeant (the proper officer of the House) should give
warning to the clerk of the crown to apj)ear at the bar at
8 a clock the next morning, and to bring with him all the writs
of summons, indentures, and returns of elections for the county
of Bucks, made and returned for this parliament ; and to give
warning also to Sir Francis Goodwin to attend in person . . .
[March 23]. Sir George Coppin, clerk of the crown, . . .
appeared at the bar and produced all the Avrits of summons,
[&c.] which were severally read by the clerk of the House, and
then the clerk of the crown commanded to retire to the door :
and aftei-, Sir F. Goodwin himself, . . . attending to know the
pleasure of the House, was called in to deliver the state of his
own cause ore tenus ; wherein he was heard at large . . .
After much dispute, the question was agreed upon and made :
Q. Whether Sir F. Goodwin were lawfully elected and returned
y2,6 James I. [ieo4.
one of the knights for Bucks, and ought to he admitted and
received as a member of this House ? Upon this question, it
was resolved in the affirmative, That he was lawfully elected
and returned and de jure ought to be received. Hereupon
the clerk of the crown was commanded to file the first indenture
of return : and order was given, That Sir Francis should
presently take the oath of supremacy as usual and his place in
the House ; which he did accordingly.
[March 27] • • • Sir Edw. Coke, his Majesty's attorney-general,
Mr Carew, Mr Hone, and Mr Tyndall, delivered from the Lords,
That their Lordships taking notice in particular of the return
of the sheriff of Bucks and acquainting his Majesty with it, his
Highness conceived himself engaged and touched in honour that
there might be some conference of it between the two Houses ;
and to that end signified his pleasure unto them, and by them
to this House. Upon this message, so extraordinary and un-
expected, the House . . . resolved, That his Majesty might be
moved for access the next day.
[March 29] ... Mr Speaker relateth what he had delivered
to the King by warrant from the House, touching their proceed-
ing in Sir F. Goodwin's case, and his Majesty's answer ; . . .
That for his part he was indifferent which of them was chosen,
Sir John or Sir Francis : that they could suspect no special
affection in him, because this Avas a counsellor not brought in by
himself. That he had no purpose to impeach their privilege,
but since they derived all matters of privilege from him and by
his grant, he expected they should not be turned against him.
That there was no precedent did suit this case fully ... By the
law this House ought not to meddle with returns, being all
made into the chancery, and are to be corrected or reformed by
that court only into which they are returned. 35 H. 6, it was
the resolution of all the judges, that matter of outlawry was
a sufficient cause of dismission of any member out of the House.
That the Judges have now resolved, that Sir F. Goodwin
standeth outlawed according to the laws of this Lmd. In
conclusion, it was his Majesty's special charge unto us, That,
first, the course already taken should be truly reported:
secondly, that we should debate the matter and resolve
amongst ourselves : thirdly, that we should admit of conference
1604.] Bucks Election. 327
with the Judges : fourthly, that we shoukl make report of all
the proceedings unto the council . . .
[March 30] . . . Moved and urged by a member, touching the
difference now on foot between the King and the House, that
there is just fear of some great abuse in the late election : that
in his conscience the King hath been much misinformed, and
that he had too many misiuformers, which he prayed God might
be removed or lessened in their number : that now the case of Sir
John Fortescue and Sir Francis Goodwin was become the case
of the whole kingdom : that old lawyers forget, and commonly
interpret the law according to the time ; that by this course
the free election of the country is taken away, and none shall
be chosen but such as shall please the King and Council. Let
us therefore, with fortitude, understanding and sincerity, seek
to maintain our privilege . . .
Upon the conclusion of this debate . . . , the House proceeded
to question ; and the first was, i. Q. Whether the House was
resolved in the matter % And the question was answered by
general voice. That the whole House was resolved. 2. Q.
Whether the reasons of their proceeding shall be set down in
writing % Resolved, That they shall be set down in writing ;
and ordered further that a committee should be named for that
purpose . . .
[April 3.] The reasons of the proceeding of the House in
Sir Francis Goodwin's case, penned by the committee, were,
according to former order, brought in by Mr Francis Moore,
and read by the clerk, directed in form of a petition :
To the King's most excellent Majesty ; the humble answer of
the Commons House of Parliament to his Majesty's objections
in Sir Francis Goodwin's case.
Most gracious, our dear and dread Sovereign, relation being
made to us by our Speaker of your Majesty's royal clemency
and patience in hearing us and of your princely prudence in
discerning, . . . we do in all humbleness render our most
bounden thanks for the same : protesting, by the bond of our
allegiance, that we never had thought to offend your Majesty ;
at whose feet we shall ever lie prosti-ate, with loyal hearts, to
sacrifice ourselves and all we have for your Majesty's service :
and in this particular, we could find no quiet in our minds, that
328 James I. [1604.
would suffer us to entertain other thoughts, until we had
addressed our answer to your most excellent Majesty . . .
There were objected against us by your Majesty and your
reverend judges four things, to impeach our proceedings in
receiving Francis Goodwin knight into our House.
Ohjectio i^^. The first, That we assumed to ourselves power
of examining of the elections and returns of knights and
burgesses, which belonged to your Majesty's Chancery, and
not to us : for that all returns of writs were examinable in tlie
courts wherein they are returnable ; and the parliament writs
being returnable into the chancery, the returns of them must
needs be there examined and not with us.
Our humble answer is, That, until the seventh year of King
Henry IV, all parliament writs were returnable into the
parliament (as appeareth by many precedents of record ready
to be shewed), and consequently the returns there examinable :
in which year a statute ' was made, That thenceforth every
parliament writ, containing the day and place where the Parlia-
ment shall be holden, should have this clause, viz. ' Et elec-
tionem tuam in pleno comitatu factam distincte et aperte
sub sigillo tuo et sigillis eonim qui electioni illi interfuerint
nobis in cancellariam nostram ad diem et locum in brevi
contentos certifices indilate.' — By this, although the form of the
writ be somewhat altered, yet the power of the parliament to
examine and determine of elections remaineth; for so the
statute hath been always expounded ever since, by use to this
day : and for that jDurpose, both the clerk of the crown hath
always used all the parliament time [to attend] upon the
Commons House with the writs and returns ; and also the
Commons in the beginning of every parliament have ever used
to appoint special committees, all the parliament time, for
examining controversies concerning elections and returns of
knights and burgesses : ... for that it is fit that the returns
should be in that place examined, where the appearance and
service of the writ is appointed . . .
Ohjectio 2^. That we dealt in the cause with too much
precipitation, not seemly for a council of gravity, and without
}'espect to your most excellent Majesty our sovereign, who had
1 7 Hen. IV. 15.
1604.] Bucks Election. 329
directed the writ to be made ; and, being but half a body and
no court of record alone, refused conference with the Lords, the
other half, notwithstanding they prayed it of us.
Our humble answer is, to the precipitation, That we entered
into this cause as in other parliaments of like cases hath been
accustomed, calling to us the clerk of the crown, and viewing
both the writs and both the returns ; . • • concerning our
refusing conference with the Lords, there was none desired until
after our sentence passed ; and then we thought that in
a matter private to our own House, which, by rules of order,
might not be by us revoked, we might, without any imputa-
tion, refuse to confer, . . . not doubting, though we were but
part of a body as to make new laws, yet for any matter of
privileges of our House we are and ever have been a court of
ourselves, of sufficient power to discern and determine without
their Lordships, as their Lordships have used always to do for
theirs without us.
Objectio 3''>. That we have, by our sentence of receiving
Goodwin, admitted that outlaws may be makers of laws ; which
is contrary to all laws.
Our humble answer is. That notwithstanding the precedents
which we truly delivered, of admitting and retaining outlaws
in personal actions in the Commons House, and none remitted
for that cause; yet we received so great satisfaction, delivered
from your royal Majesty's own mouth, with such excellent
strength and light of reason, more than before in that point
we heard or did conceive, as we forthwith prepared an act to
pass our House, That all outlaws henceforth shall stand
disabled to serve in parliament ; but as concerning Goodwin's
particular, it could not appear unto us, having thoroughly
examined all parts of the proceedings against him, that he stood
an outlaw by the laws of England at the time of the elec-
tion . . .
Objectio 4**. That we proceeded to examine the truth of the
fact of outlawry, and gave our sentence uj^on that ; whereas we
ought to have been bound by the sheriff's return of the outlawry
from further examining, whether the party were outlawed
or not.
Our humble answer is. That the precedents cited before, in
^^o James I. [ieo4.
our answer to the first objection, do prove the use of the
Commons House to examine veritatem facti in elections and
returns, and have not been tied peremptorily to allow the
return . , .
[April 5]. Mr Speaker, by a private commandment, attended
the King this morning at 8 a clock and there stayed till 10 . . .
Mr Speaker bringeth message from his ^Majesty to this effect : . . .
His Majesty protested ... he had as great a desire to maintain
their privileges as ever any prince bad, or as they themselves.
He had seen and considered of the manner and the matter : he
had heard his judges and his council ; and that he was now
distracted in judgment. Therefore, for his further satisfaction,
he desired and commanded, as an absolute king, that there
might be a conference between the House and the Judges ; and
that for that purpose there might be a select committee of
grave and learned persons out of the House : that his council
might be present, not as umpires to determine, but to report
indifferently on both sides.
Upon this unexpected message there grew some amazement
and eilence. But at last one stood up and said. The prince's
command is like a thunder-bolt ; his command upon our alle-
giance like the roaring of a lion. To his command there is no
contradiction ; but how or in what manner we should now
proceed to perform obedience, that will be the question.
Another answered, Let us petition to his Majesty that he will
be pleased to be present, to hear, moderate and judge the case
himself. AVhereupon Mr Speaker proceeded to this question :
Q. Whether to confer v/ith the judges in the presence of the
King and council % Which was resolved in the affirmative,
and a select committee presently named for the conference . . .
[April II.] Upon adjournment . . . Sir Francis Bacon
reporteth what had passed in conference in the presence of his
Majesty and council. The King said . . . that our privileges
were not in question : that it was private jealousies without
any kernel or substance. He granted it was a court of record
and a judge of returns. He moved, That neither Sir J. Fortescue
nor Sir F. Goodwin might have place. Sir John losing place,
his Majesty did meet us half-way . . .
Upon this report . . . the question was presently made ;
1604.] Parliamentary Elections. 331
Q. Whether Sir J. Fortescue and Sir F. Goodwin shall both be
secluded, and a warrant for a new writ directed ? And upon the
question, resolved, That a writ should issue for a new choice ;
and a warrant directed accordingly.
[April 13] . . . The warrant for a new election of a knight
for Bucks read and allowed in this form :
Whereas the Right Hon. Sir John Fortescue knight, Chan-
cellor of his Majesty's Duchy of Lancaster, and Sir Francis
Goodwin knight have been severally elected and returned
knights of the shire for the county of Bucks, to serve in this
present parliament : upon deliberate consultation, and for some
special causes moving the Commons House of Parliament, it is
this day ordered and required by the said House, That a writ be
forthwith awarded for a new election of another knight for the
said shire ; and this shall be your warrant. Directed, To my
very loving friend. Sir George Coppin knight, clerk of the
crown in his Majesty's high court of Chancery.
Commons Journals, I. pp. 1 49-1 71.
(b) Elections for Cardigan and Shrewsbury, 1604.
Die Veneris, viz. 130 die Aprilis, 1604. . . Mr Serjeant Snig
maketh report of a case refeiTed to the Committee for Eeturns
and Privileges, viz. touching a difference in the election of
a burgess for the town of Cardigan in Wales, and first reciteth
the effect of the statutes directing the form of choosing a burgess
for Parliament in every shire in Wales. [Portions of statutes
23 Hen. VI. 18, and 35 Hen. VIII. 26 are recited.]
The Case. Sir Richard Price knight, sheriff of the county
of Cardigan, . . . after the receipt of the King's writ for the
choice of a knight for the shire and burgess for the town of
Cardigan, made forth his precept to the mayor of Cardigan, being
mayor of the shire town, who according to these statutes made
proclamation.
The sheriff of the shire, minding to make choice of a friend
of his, notwithstanding this liis precept, proceeds to the election
of another in Aberystwith, one of the contributory towns, and
receives the return of the indentures made between him and
the mayor of Aberystwith and others having voices in the said
election, this being in the sheriff's county then held in Aberyst-
^;^2 James J. [i604.
with, by which indentures Eicard Delabere esquire is returned
burgess elected for Cardigan.
The mayor of Cardigan, being mayor of the shire town,
returns his election, lawfully made according to the said statutes,
by indenture, wherein William Bradshawe esquire, lesident
within the town of Cardigan, is elected. The fcherifF eturns
both the indentures.
This being the truth of the case and debated by the Com-
mittees, the reporter said they were clearly of opinion that
Mr Bradshawe was lawfully elected, retui-ned, and ought to be
sworn, and the bheriff to be censured, according to the course of
the House in such cases of offence of sheriffs.
Whereuj)on Mr Speaker requiring the opinion of the House,
they assented, and Mr Bradshawe was sworn and admitted.
And besides it was ordered, That Mr Speaker should direct his
warrant to the Serjeant of the House for attaching the body of
the &aid sheriff, as in like cases is usual : which was accordingly
done . . .
The manner of the election and return of the burgesses for
the town of Shrewsbury falling into question between Mr
Serjeant Harris the younger and Mr Barker, the case was
opened to the House by Mr Tate and argued pro et contra by
sundry members of the House. The case being this. That ui:)on
the first writ of election choice was made of Mr Barker, and an
indenture returned and delivered by Mr Barker himself to the
clerk of the crown; the sheriff afterwards procureth Mr
Serjeant Harris to be chosen, and returneth and justifieth
another indenture made between the electors and himself which
is not according to the statute of election of 23 Eliz.^ So as
hereupon, after great dispute, sundry questions were agreed on
and made :
I. Whether the first indenture between the sheriff [sic] and
bailiffs, and 2. Whether the indenture between the sheriff and
the electors shall be accepted by the House 1
And resolved, upon these questions, that neither ought to be
accepted, and so both the returns damned. A third question
was made : 3. Whether a wai'rant shall issue for a new writ '?
4. Whether the sheriff' shall be sent for by warrant directed to
^ It does not appear what statute is tefened to.
1621.] Elections : Expulsion of members. 333
the Serjeant of the House % And both questions resolved in
the affirmative.
The warrant for a new writ was in this form :
Whereas two several indentures have been lately made con-
cerning the election of burgesses for the town of Shrewsbury,
one between the bailiffs and burgesses of the said town, and
the other between the sheriff of the county and sundry the
burgesses of the said town ; the first whereof, being not re-
turned by the sheriff but disavowed by Jiis deputy, the other
returned by him, are both by the Commons House of Parliament
conceived and adjudged to be insufficient : It is therefore
required on behalf of the said House that a new writ be forth-
with awarded for a new election of burgesses to be made for
the said town. And this shall be your warrant.
Edward Phelips, Sjieaker.
Directed :
To my very loving friend Sir Geo. Coppin knight, Clerk of
the Crown in Chancery. Commons' Journals, I. pp. 170-171.
(c) Election for Cambridge, 162 1,
[22 March, 1620] . . . Sir E-o. Phillippes : That the mayor of
Cambridge, Mr Foxton, hath returned himself. Upon question,
Mr Foxton, being mayor at the time of his election, to be
I'emoved, and a new writ : [resolved] without one negative.
Commons^ Journals, I, p. 569.
3. Eight of Expulsion.
[House of Commons, 21 March, 1621] . . . Sir Edw. Coke,
from the Committee for grievances. The patent for dispensing
with pedlars [&c.] ruled ... to be a patent of grievance . . .
The last, for wills engrossing, the worst of all . . . The subject
hath liberty by the law to engross his own will . . . Now everj^
one of these must come to Sir R. Floyde : he [hath] the sole en-
grossing of all wills and inventories.
[After debate] Upon question. Sir R. Floyde to be removed
out of the House, for being a projector and maintainer of this
patent . , . Sir E. Floyde called to the bar. . . . Mr Speaker
pronounceth this sentence : That he is to be no longer any
334 James I. [i62i.
member of this House, but to be removed ; and that his patent
a grievance in the original. Commons Journals, I. pp. 565-7.
4. Judicature of Parliament.
(a) Impeachment of Lord Bacon, 162 1.
[House of Commons] Jovis, 15° Martii, 180 Jacobi . . . Sir
lio. Phillippes reporteth from the Committee for Courts of
Justice three parts : person against whom, the matter, and
opinion of the Committee, with desire of further direction.
The person, the Lord Chancellor , . , The matter, corruption :
the parties accusing, Aubrey and Egerton.
[17 Maich] . . . [After further report from the Committee
a debate took jDlace, in which] Sir Edw. Coke raoveth, . . .
that the witnesses that can testify this, not of the House, may
testify this to the Lords, when cause. That we must go to the
Lords according to precedents . . . Upon question, resolved.
That the complaints of Aubrey and Egerton against the Lord
Chancellor and the Bishop [of LlandafF] for corruption, for the
100^. and 400Z. and the recognisance, shall be presented to the
Lords from this House, without prejudice or opinion.
[19 March] . . . Mr Secretaiy, from the King . . . That the
King taking notice of the accusations against the Lord Chan-
cellor . . . will, if shall be thought fit here, grant out a commis-
sion ... to examine all upon oath, all that can speak in this
business. The commissioners, six of the Upper House to be
chosen by them, and twelve here to be chosen.
Sir Edw. Coke. That this gracious message taketh not away
our parliamentary proceeding. To go on with our message :
then to deliberate upon this. . . .
Sir Edw. Sackville. To have no divorce between the Lords
and us . . .
[Tlianks having been voted to the King for his message]
Mr Secretary, from the King, That he acquainted the King
with the thanks of the House . . . and that the House desireth
he will be pleased to send a message to the Lords about the
commission, and receive their answer, that so they and this
House may proceed Avith an unanimous assent, as hitherto they
have done.
1621.] Impeachment of Bacon. '^'^^
8ir E,o, Phillippes : That lie acquainted the Lords, that
Avhere this House had made inquisitions into the courts of
justice within this kingdom, they had met with some complaints
against some Lords of that House, and that therefore they
desired a conference with the Lords . . . Answer, That the
Lords would afford a conference with the whole House in the
Painted Chamber this afternoon.
[House of Lords, March 20] The Lord Treasurer reported
the conference yesterday with the Commons . . . He showed
also that the Commons do purpose that, if any more of this
kind happen to be complained of before them, they will present
the same to your Lordships ; wherein they shall follow the
ancient precedents, which show that great personages have been
accused for the like in parliament. They humbly desire that,
forasmuch as this concerns a person of so great eminency, it
may not depend long before your Lordships ; that the examina-
tion of proofs may be expedited ; and, if he be found guilty,
then to be punished; if not guilty, the accusers to be
punished . . .
After much debate thereof ... it was agreed, That a message
should be sent to the Lower House ... To declare unto the
knights, citizens and burgesses of the House of Commons that
the Lords have, according to the conference yesterday, taken
consideration of the com.glaints by them made against the Lord
Chancellor and against the Bishop of Llandaff . . .
[March 21] . . . For that divers were sworn and many were
offered to be sworn, in dicta causa Domini Cancellarii, it was
ordered three committees to be appointed, to take some of the
examinations to expedite the cause.
[The House of Lords having been occupied for many days in
taking evidence, Lord Bacon's confession was read before the
House on Apinl 30.]
[May 2] . . . Agreed to proceed to sentence the Lord Chan-
cellor to-morrow morning.
[May 3. The Chancellor being too ill to appear when sum-
moned,] the Lords resolved ta proceed against the Lord
Chancellor, and the King's attorney having read the charge
and confession, it was put to the question, whether the Lord
Chancellor were guilty of the matters wherewith he was chai'ged,
^^6 James I. [i62i.
or no 1 Agreed by all, nemme dissentiente, That he was
thereof guilty . . .
The Lords, having agreed ui)on the sentence to be given
against the Lord Chancellor, did send a message to the House
of Commons . . . That the Lords are ready to give judgment
against the Lord Viscount St Alban, Lord Chancellor, if they
with their Speaker will come to demand it.
In the mean time the Lords put on their robes, and, answer
being returned of this message and the Commons come, the
Speaker came to the bar and, making three low obeisances,
said :
The knights, citizens, aud burgesses of the Commons Hou^e
of Parliament have made complaint unto your Lordships of
many exorbitant offences of bribery and corruption committed
by the Lord Chancellor. We understand that your Lordships
are ready to give judgment ujoon him for the same. Wherefore,
I, their Sj)eaker, in their name, do humbly demand and pray
judgment against him, the Lord Chancellor, as the nature of
his offence and demerits do require.
The Lord Chief Justice answered, Mr SjDeaker ; Upon the
complaint of the Commons against the Lord Viscount St Alban,
Lord Chancellor, this high court hath thereby and by his own
confession found him guilty of the crimes and corruptions com-
plained of by the Commons and of sundry other crimes and
corruptions of like nature. And therefore this high court,
having first summoned him to attend and having received his
excuse of not attending, by reason of infirmity and sickness
(which he protested was not feigned, or else he would most
willingly have attended), doth nevertheless think fit to proceed
to judgment. And therefore this high court doth adjudge,
I. That the Lord Viscount St Albaii, Lord Chancellor of
England, shall undergo fine and ransom of £40,000. 2. That
he shall be imprisoned in the Tower during the King's
pleasure. 3. That he shall for ever be incapable of any office,
place or employment in the state or commonwealth. 4. That
he shall never sit in Parliament, nor come within the verge of
the court. This is the judgment and resolution of this high
court.
Lords' Jonriials, III. pp. 53-106; Commons Journals, I. pp. 554-563.
1621.] Judicature in Floyde's case. 337
(b) Floy de s case, 1621.
[House of Commons, April 28] . . . The business concerning
the Fleet to be heard upon Monday next. . . . Floyde to be here.
[May i] Floyde called in to the bar, and kneeling, Mr
Speaker pronounced his judgment. . . .
[May 4] ... Be it remembered, that upon Tuesday, the first
day of May, in the year of the reign of our sovereign Lord
James . . . the 19th, Edward Floyde, late of Clanneraayne
within the county of Salop, esquire, was impeached before the
Commons assembled in this Parliament, for that the said
Edward since the summons of this Parliament, in the prison
of the Fleet, having communication concerning the most
illustrious princess the lady Elizabeth . . . and the most excellent
prince her husband, did use and utter, openly and publicly,
false, malicious and despiteful speeches of the said two princes ;
saying in this manner, ' I have heard, that Pi'ague is taken ;
and Goodman Palsgrave and Goodwife Palsgrave have taken
their heels, and run away ; and, as I have heard, Goodwife
Palsgrave is taken prisoner ' ; . . . and that at other times he
did, in like despiteful and reproachful manner, use other
malicious and opprobrious words of them. Whereupon the said
Commons, of their love and zeal to our said sovereign Lord, and
not minding to let pass unpunished those things that tended to
the disgrace of his Majesty's issue, a part of himself, who is
head of the Parliament, did call before them the said Edw.
Floyde and thereof did question hitn ; and thereupon so far
proceeded, that after, upon the same day, for that the said
matters whereof the said Edward was impeached w^ere true
and notorious, therefore the said Commons, in the Commons
House as-sembled in parliament, did adjudge and award that
the said Edward should . . . the next morning be brought to
Westminster, into the great yard before the door of the great
hall of pleas, and be there set and stand upon the pillory
from 9 until 11 of the clock in the forenoon, with a paper upon
his hat, with this inscription, in capital letters, of these words ;
* For false, malicious and despiteful speeches against the King's
daughter and her husband ' ; ... and that there is set and
assessed upon him a fine of £1000.
z
S3^ James I. [i62i.
[House of Lords, May 5] . . . The House being moved to take
consideration of an act lately done by the Commons, in con-
venting before them the person of one Edward Floud, in
examining of witnesses and giving judgment upon him, and
entering this as an act with them, the which doth trench deep
into the privilege of this House, for that all judgments do
properly and only belong unto this House ; the Lords resolved
not to suffer anything to pass which might prejudice their right
in this point of judicature, and yet so to proceed as the love and
good correspondency between both Houses might be continued.
Whereupon . . . they sent this message in writing unto the Com-
mons : ' . . . Their Lordships, having heard of a censure lately
passed in that House against one Edward Floud, are desirous of
conference for the accommodating that business in such- sort as
may be without any prejudice to the privilege of either House . . .'
[The Commons assenting, the conference was held the same
day.]
[May 7] . . . The Lords having considered of the precedents
alleged by the Commons at the last conference 5" Mail, they
found that they tended to prove, i . That the House of Commons
is a Court of Eecord. 2. That they have ministered an oath in
matters concerning themselves. 3. That they have inflicted
punishments on delinquents, where the cause hath concerned
a member of their House or the privileges thereof. And their
Lordships having determined that the question at this time is
not, whether that House be a Court of Record [&c.], . . . but
the question is, whether that House may laroceed to sentence
any man who is not a member of that House, and for a matter
which concerns not that House : for which the Commons alleged
no proofs nor produced any precedent ; their Lordships agreed
to pray a re-conference about the same, and at the conference
to handle this only, viz. That the House of Commons have no
power of judicature nor coercion against any, but in matters
concerning that House.
[The second conference having taken place, sub-committees
of both Houses were apjjointed and conferred.]
[May 12]... The Archbishop of Canterbury reported the
conference yesterday between the two sub-committees of both
Houses to this effect, viz. : i. They showed their constant reso-
1621.] Judicature in Floyd^s case. 339
lution to maintain the love and good correspondency between
both Houses. 2. Their resolution not to invade the privileges
of this House, that have dealt so nobly with them. 3. That
out of tlieir zeal they sentenced Floud ; but they leave him to
the Lords, with an intimation of their hope that this House
will censure him also. They propounded a protestation to be,
entered with them, for a mean to accommodate the business
between both Houses. . . . The protestation was read twice and
no exceptions taken unto it. It followeth, in haec verba, viz. :
A protestation to be entered, by consent of the House of
Commons, to this purpose : That the proceedings lately passed
in that House against Edward Floud be not at any time here-
after drawn or used as a precedent, to the enlarging or diminish-
ing of the lawful rights or privileges of either House ; but that
the rights and privileges of both Houses shall remain in the
self-same state and plight as before.
[May 14] . . . Message from the Commons . . . The Knights
[&c.] of the House of Commons humbly desire to know whether
the same [protestation] be approved of here ... or no. The
Lords . . . answered ; The Lords have approved, and they do
approve and corroborate the same protestation.
[House of Commons, May 14] . . . Sir Edw. Sands : In the
now message to the Lords, to give some intimation of our . . .
liking of the protestation offered by the sub-committee of the
Lords : which read . . . and assented to by the House.
[House of Lords, May 26] . . . Edw. Floud being brought to
the bar, Mr Attorney charged him with notorious misdemeanours
and high presumption. . . . [After examination, and sentence
agreed onj Edw. Floud being brought to the bar again, Mr
Attorney General . . . prayed the Lords to proceed to judg-
ment against him. Whereupon the Lord Chief Justice ^ pro-
nounced the sentence in these words, viz. The Lords spiritual
and temporal, considering of the great offence of the said
Edward Floude, do award and adjudge: i. That the said Edw.
Floude shall be incapable to bear arms as a gentleman . . .
4. That he shall be fined to the King in ,£5000. 5. That he
shall be imprisoned in Newgate during his lite.
Lords Journals, II. pp. 110-134; Commons^ Journals, I. pp. 596-621.
' Acting as Speaker of tlie House in the vacancy of the Chancellorship.
Z 2
34° James I. [leoe.
IIL— UNPARLIAMENTARY TAXATION.
1. Bates' Case.
(a) Arguments of tlie Judges, 1606^.
\Baron Clarke^ ... It seemeth to me strange that any subjects
would contend with the King in this high point of prerogative ;
but such is the King's grace that he has shewed his intent to
be, that this matter shall be disputed and adjudged by us
according to the ancient law and custom of the realm ... As it
is not a kingdom without subjects and government, so he is not
a king without revenues . . . The revenue of the crown is the
very essential part of the crown, and he who rendeth that from
the King pulleth also his crown from his head, for it cannot be
separated from the crown. And such great prerogatives of the
crown, without which it cannot be, ought not to be disputed ;
and in these cases of prerogative the judgment shall not be
according to the rules of the common law, but according to the
precedents of this court, whei'ein these matters are disputable
and determinable . . .
True it is that the weal of the King is the public weal of the
people, and he for his pleasure may afforest the wood of any
subject, and he thereby shall be subject to the law of the forest ;
and he may take the provision of any man by his purveyor for
his own use, but at reasonable prices and without abuse, the
abuse of which officer hath been restrained by divers statutes ; and
the King may take wines for his provision, and also timber for
his ships, castles or houses in the wood of any man, and this is
for public benefit : and the King may alloy or enhance coin at
his pleasure, for the jalenty of the king is the people's peace . . .
The Statute of the 45 Edw. Ill, Cap, 4, which hath been so
much urged, that no new imposition shall be imposed upon
wool-fells, wool or leather but only the custom and subsidy
granted to the King — this extends only to the King himself
and shall not bind his successors, for it is a principal part of the
Crown of England which the King cannot diminish. And the
same King, in the 24th of his reign, granted divers exemptions
' The case was tried in the Exchequer Court, Nov. 1606. The judgments
of Baron Clarke and Chief Baron Fleiuing have alone been preserved.
1606.] Impositions: Bates' case. 341
to certain persons, and because that it was in derogation of his
state imperial, he himself recalled and annulled the same . . .
All the ports of the realm belong to the King . . . The writ
of ne exeat regno comprehends a prohibition to him to whom it
is directed that he shall not go beyond the seas, and this may
be directed at the King's pleasure to any man who is his
subject ; and so consequently may he prohibit all merchants.
And as he may prohibit the persons, so may he the goods of
any man, viz. that he shall export or import at his pleasure.
And if the King may generally inhibit that such goods shall
not be imported, then by the same reason may he proliibit them
upon condition or suh modo, viz. that if they import such goods,
that then they shall pay, &c. . . .
[Chief Baron Fleming^ The King's power is double, ordinary
and absolute, and they have several laws and ends. That of
the ordinary is for the profit of particular subjects, for the
execution of civil justice, the determining of rneum ; and this
is exercised by equity and justice in oi'dinary courts, and by
the civilians is nominated jus privatum, and with us common
law ; and these laws cannot be changed without parliament ;
and although that their form and course may be changed and
interrupted, yet they can never be changed in substance. The
absolute power of the King is not that which is converted or
executed to private use, to the benefit of any particular person,
but is only that which is ajiplied to the general benefit of the
people, and is salus populi ; as the people is the body, and the
King the head ; and this power is [not] ^ guided by the rules
which direct only at the common law, and is most properly
named policy and government; and as the constitution of this
body varieth with the time, so varieth this absolute law,
according to the wisdom of the King, for the common good ;
and these being general rules, and true as they are, all things
done within these rules are lawful. The matter in quebtion is
material matter of state, and ought to be ruled by the rules of
policy, and if it be so, the King hath done well to execute his
extraordinary power.
All customs, be they old or new, are no other but the efi'ects
^ It seems clear that this word has been accidentally omitted in the
report.
342 James I. |]i606.
and issues of trades and commerce with foreign nations ; but
all commerce and affairs with foreigners, all wars and peace, all
acceptance and admitting for current foreign coin, all parties
and treaties whatsoever are made by the absolute power of the
King : and he who hath power of causes hath power also of
effects . . .
It is said that an imposition may not be upon a subject without
parliament. That the King may impose upon a subject, I omit,
for it is not here the question if the King may impose upon the
subject or his goods. But the impost here is not upon a subject,
but here it is upon Bates, as upon a merchant who imports
goods within the land, charged before by the King ; and at the
time when the impost was imposed upon them, they were the
goods of the Venetians and not the goods of a subject, nor
within the land ; . . . and so all the arguments which were made
for the subject fail . . .
And whereas it is said, that if the King may impose, he may
impose any quantity that he pleases, true it is that this is to
be referred to the wisdom of the King, who guideth all under
God by his wisdom, and this is not to be disputed by a subject ;
and many things are left to his wisdom for the ordering of his
power rather than his power shall be restrained. The King
may pardon any felon : but it may be objected that if he pardon
one felon, he may pardon all, to the damage of the common-
wealth ; and yet none will doubt but that is left to his wisdom
. . . And the wisdom and providence of the King is not to be
disputed by the subject; for by intendment they cannot be
severed from his person, and to argue a posse ad actum, to
restrain the King and his power because that by his power he
may do ill, is no argument for a subject . . .
State Trials, ed. 1779, vol. xi. pp. 30-32.
(b) Mr. HakewilVs argument, i6io^
Mr Speaker, The question now in debate amongst us is,
whether his Majesty may by his prerogative royal, without
assent of parliament, at his own will and pleasure, lay a new
^ This speech was delivered in the House of Commons, some time during
the great debate on impositions which began on June 23 and ended on
July 3, 1610 (C. J. I. pp. 443-5 ; Pari. Debates in 1610, Camd. Soc).
1610.] Impositions : Bates' case. 343
charge or Imposition upon merchandizes, to be brought into or
out of this kingdom of England, and enforce merchants to pay
the same . . .
First, I hold it necessary to consider whether custom were
due to the King by the common law. Secondly, admitting it
to be due by the common law, whether it were a sum certain,
not to be increased at the King's pleasure or otherwise. Thirdly,
supposing that by the common law the King might, by way of
imposition, have increased his custom at his own will, by his
absolute power, without assent in parliament, whether or no he
be not bound to the contrary by Acts of Parliament . • . Lastly,
I will discover unto j^ou the weakness of such reasons as have
been made in maintenance of the King's right to impose . . .
That custom is due by the common law I collect, first by the
name thereof ... To this may be added, that Magna Charta
Cap. 30 ^, . . . termeth this not only consuetudo, which, as I have
said, implies antiquity beyond all remembrance of a beginning,
but antiqua consuetudo . . . But that which most of all moveth
me to believe that this duty was and is due by the common
law, is this ; that in all cases where the common law putteth
the King to sustain charge for the protection of the subject, it
always yieldeth him out of the thing protected some gain
towards the maintenance of the charge . . . This observation . . .
maketh me to think that because the common law expecteth
tliat the King should protect merchants in their trades, ... it
also giveth him out of merchandizes exported and imported
some profit for the sustentation of this public charge. Other-
wise were the law very unreasonable and unjust. So as to
prove that by the common law custom is due to the King,
I shall need to say no more . . .
I will therefore proceed to my second consideration ; whether
that profit upon merchandizes, which the common law for these
respects gave unto the King, were a duty certain, not to be
increased or enhanced at the King's will and pleasure without
a common assent in Parliament ; or otherwise whether the
common law hath left an absolute power in the King to demand
in this case more or less at his own pleasure and to compel his
subjects to pay it. The resolving of which question will, as
1 i.e. of the Charter of 1225 : § 41 of M. C. 1215.
344 James I. [leio.
I conceive, make an end of this controversy between us ; for
what are these impositions which we comjilain of, other than
the enhancing of the custom by the King's absolute pleasure ? . . .
And first, I lay this as a ground, . . . that the common law of
England, as also all other wise laws in the world, delight in
certainty and abandon uncertainty, as the mother of all debate
and confusion, than wdiich nothing is more odious in law . . .
The common law of England giveth to the King, as to the head
of the Commonwealth, no perpetual revenue or matter of profit
out of the interest or property of the subject, but it either
limiteth a certainty therein at the first, or otherwise hath so
provided that, if it be uncertain in itself, it is reducible to
a certainty only by a legal course, that is to say, either by
Parliament, by judges or jury, and not by the King's own
absolute will and pleasure . . , There are many other revenues
due to the King by the common law as well as custom : if they
all or as many as we can call to mind shall fall out to be, as
I have said, sums certain and not subject to be increased at the
King's will, this will be a forcible argument that custom is
likewise certain and not to be enhanced at the King's pleasure.
. . . The common law giveth the King a fine for the purchase of
an original writ. Is it certain % It is, and ever hath been . . .
May the King increase this fine at his pleasure % There is no
man that will say he may. There is a fine due by the common
law ino licentia concordandi. Is it not certainly known, and
so hath always been, to be the tenth part of the land comprised
in the writ of the covenant ? . . . I am unwilling to trouble
you with any more particulars of this kind. But let any man
shew me one particular to the contrary, and I will then yield
that my position, being false in one, may be in more ; but till
my position hath been in this point infringed, this general
concordance of the law in all these particulars is argument
enough for me, without having alleged other reisous, to conclude
that custom being, as all these are, a revenue due to the King
by the common law. arising out of the property and interest
of the subject, is, as all these are, limited and bounded by the
common law to a certainty which the King hath not power to
increase . . ,
I am now ... to shew you, that where the common law
1610.] Impositions : Bates' case. 345
giveth the King a revenue not certain at the first, that is always
reducible to a certainty by a legal course, as by Act of
Parliament, judges or jury, and not at the King's pleasure.
Every man that by his tenure is bound to serve the King in
his wars, and faileth, is to pay, according to the quantity of his
tenure, a fine by the name of escuage. This cannot be assessed
but in Parliament . . . Fines for misdemeanours are always
assessed by the judges. Amercements in all cases are to be
assessed by the country, and not to be assessed by the King . . .
I am of opinion that if a statute wei-e made that the King
might raise the customs at his pleasure, yet might it not be
done as now it is, by the King's absolute power, but by some
other legal course, of which the common law doth take notice,
as in the case of the fine and ransom. Much less then will the
common law permit that it should depend upon the King's
absolute pleasure, there being no such statute in the case . . .
I proceed to my second reason, which is drawn fiom the
policy and frame of this commonwealth and the providence of
the common law, the which, as it requires at the subjects' hands
loyalty and obedience to their sovereign, so doth it likewise
require at the hands of the soveieign protection and defence
of the subject against all wrongs and injuries whatsoever,
ofiered either by one subject to another or by the common
enemy to them all or any of them. This ]irotection, the law
considereth, cannot be without a great charge to the King . . .
He receiveth out of the subject's purse for wardships and the
dependances thereupon, as we have of late accounted, about
^45 000 by the year. This is a revenue which no other King of
the world hath : and as it appears by the Statute of 1 4 Ed. Ill,
(2) I. it ought to be employed in maintenance of the wars . . .
He hath likewise all forfeitures upon treason and outlawry and
upon penal laws, fines and amercements ; profits of courts,
tieasure- trove, prisage, butlerage, wreck, and so many more, as
the very enumeration of the particulars would take up a long
time. To what other end hath the common law thus provided
for the maintenance of the King's charge, by all these ways and
means of raising profit out of the interest and property of the
subject's estate in lands and goods, but only to this end, that,
after these duties paid, the poor subject might hold and enjoy
34^ James 1. [leio.
the rest of his estate to his own use, free and clear from all
other burdens whatsoever % . . .
And hereupon, by the knight that last sj^ake, it Avas held,
that upon occasion of a sudden and unexpected war the King
may not only lay impositions but levy a tax within the realm
without assent of Parliament, which position in my opinion is
very dangerous ; for to admit this were by consequence to
bring us into bondage. You say that upon occasion of sudden
war the King may levy a tax. Who shall be judge between the
King and his people of the occasion % Can it be tried by any
legal course in our law % It cannot. If then the King himself
must be the sole judge in this case, will it not follow that the
King may levy a tax at his own pleasure, seeing his jileasure
cannot be bounded by law 1 You see into what a mischief the
admittance of one error hath drawn you.
But for a full answer to the objection, I say that the
providence of the common law is such and so excellent, as that
for the defraying of the King's charge upon any occasions of
a sudden war, it hath, over and above all the ordinary revenues
which it giveth the King, which in the time of war cannot
indeed but fall short, made an excellent provision. For, sir,
the war must needs be either offensive or defensive ... If it be
an offensive war ... it cannot be a sudden accident, for it is
the King's own act, and it may and it is fitting he should take
deliberation ; and if it be a just and necessary war, he may
crave and easily obtain assistance of his subjects by grant of
aid in Parliament . . . Only a defensive war, by invasion of
foreign enemies, may be sudden, in which case the law hath not
left the King to war upon his own expense or to rely upon his
ordinary revenue, but hath notably provided that every subject
within the land, high and low, whether he hold of the King or
not, in case of foreign invasion, may be compelled at his own
charge to serve the King in person . . .
I do then conclude this argument, that seeing the common
law, for maintenance of the King's ordinary charge, hath given
him such an ample revenue out of the interest and property of
the subject, and provided also for sudden occasions, in so doing
it hath secluded and secured the rest of the subject's estate from
the King's power and pleasure ; and consequently that the
1610.] Impositions: Bates* case. 347
King hatli not power upon any occasion at his pleasure to
charge the estate of his subjects by impositions, tallages or
taxes — for I hold them all in one degree — or any other burden
whatsoever, without the subject's free and voluntary assent, and
that in parliament . . .
I will now, according to my division, urge an argument or
two of inference and presumption . . . First in the actions and
forbearances of the kings, I observe, that all the kings of this
realm since Henry III have sought and obtained an increase of
custom more or less by the name of subsidy of the gift of their
subjects in parliament ... Is it likely that, if any or all these
kings had thought they had in them any lawful power by just
prerogative to have laid impositions at their pleasui'e, they
would not rather have made use of that than have taken this
course by act of parliament 1 . . .
And so I proceed to my next argument ©f inference drawn
from the action of our kings. Some of the kings of England,
as namely Edward II . . . and Edward III, . . . were contented
to accept an increase of their custom by way of loan from the
merchants, and solemnly bind themselves to repay it again.
Would any wise man in the world, that thought he had but a
colour of right, so much prejudice himself as to borrow that which
he might take without leave, and bind himself to repay it ? . . .
And yet is not this all, for some of them, by name Edward I,
did not only take it by assent in parliament or by way of loan,
but (as one that buys for his money in the market) did give
for it a real and valuable consideration, and that to merchant
strangers of whom there was more colour to demand it as a duty
than of his natural subjects. In proof of which I produce
charta mercatoria \ made anno 3 1 Ed. I . . . What stronger
inference can there almost possibly be against the King's abso-
lute power of imposing than this : that he was contented, and
so specified to all his officers of the ports, that if the merchants
did of their own accords pay more than their ancient customs
they should have consideration for it, but if they themselves
were not willing to pay more, then they should not be com-
pelled thereunto ? . . .
I will now make some observations of their forbearance to
^ Granted to foreign merchants, Feb. 1303; cf. Stubbs, C. H. ii. 523.
548 James I. [leio.
put this pretended power in practice, considering the several
occasions of the times which I will prosecute in order. First
thei-efore in general, I observe that from the Conquest until the
reign of Queen Mary, ... in the practice of this pretended pre-
rogative of imposing, the kings have been so sparing, as ... it
cannot be found or proved by matter of record that six im-
positions, such as we now complain of, were laid by all those
kings . . . And those six, if there were so many, though they
were unlawful, yet were they in some sort to be borne withal,
first by reason they were very moderate, secondly that they
were laid in the times of great and apparent necessity, and that
they were to endure but for a year or two ; for none of them
except only that upon wine laid 16 Ed. I lasted longer . . .
[After going through these precedents severally, and en-
deavouring to minimise their importance, he proceeds] From the
end of the reign of Edward III till the reign of Queen Mary,
. . . being the space of 170 years or thereabouts, it hath been
confessed by all those that have argued in maintenance of his
Majesty's right to impose, that there hath not been found one
record that proves any one imposition to have been laid . . .
And if you please to give me leave to remember to you the
passages of those times, you cannot but marvel that none of all
those princes should so much as attempt to try the strength of
this so beneficial a prerogative, so much practised by Edward III ;
and when you have heard their occasions and compared their
other actions with their forbearance in this kind, you will, I
think, conclude and say in your hearts, that surely none of all
those kings had so much as any imagination that any such
pieroyative belonged unto them as to raise money at their
jjleasure, by laying a charge ujion merchandizes to be exported
or imported, without assent in parliament . . .
Eut now admitting that by the common law it had been
clear and without question that the King might at his will have
laid impositions and that also the same could have been clearly
proved b}^ the practice of the ancient kings, yet I affirm that so
stands the law of England at this day by reason of statutes
directly in the point, as the King's power, if ever he had any
to impose, is not only limited, but utterly taken away . . . The
first statute is in Magna Charta, cap. 30. I come to the second
1610.] Impositions: Bates' case. 349
statute against impositions which is the statute de tallagio non
concedendo, touching the time of the making of which there is
great variety of opinion . . . The next statute against impositions
is 25 Ed. I. [Confirmatio Cartarum] . . . The next statute
made against them is 14 Ed. IIT. (i) cap. 21 , . .
In discovering the weakness of the reasons alleged in main-
tenance of impositions, I shall not greatly need to say anything
more than hath been said . . . Neveitheless I will in a few
words recall to your memories their reasons; and in as few
apply the answers to them . . .
It hath been said that the old custom of a demi-mark upon
a sack of wool must have his beginning either bj'^ the Kiug's
absolute power, or by a legal assent of the people, which can be
nowhere but in parliament and cannot but appear of record ;
but because no such assent can be shown therefore they conclude
that it began by the King's absolute power and infer that the
same power remains still . . . But this question, how began the
first customs, is best answered by another question ; how began
the fine for purchase of original writs, the fine pro licentia con-
cordandi, the certainty of prisage 1 ... In effect who reduced
all the known grounds of the common law to that certainty
that now they are 1 Because we cannot tell how or when they
began, shall we therefore conclude that they began by the
King's absolute power, and infer that by the same reason they
may be changed at his pleasure ? . . .
The King may, say they, restrain the passage of merchants
at his pleasure, which they prove by divers records . . . Upon
which they infer that if he may restrain a merchant that he
shall not pass at all, he may much more so restrain him that
he shall not pass except he pay a certain sum of money . . .
For my part I think that restraints in all these cases and of
like nature are by the common law left to the King's absolute
power . . . But because he may restrain totally, therefore that
he may give passage for money, is no good consequence, for in
our case there is no restraint at all, but it is rather a passage
for money. If there be just occasion of restraint the law giveth
the King power to restrain. But when merchants may without
hurt to the state have passage, as in our case, to enforce them
to pay for that passage is in my opinion as unlawful as to
350 James 1. [leio.
enforce any man whatsoever to pay for doing that which he
may lawfully do . . .
The ports and haven-towns of England are, say they, the
Kind's, and in regard thereof he may open or shut them upon
what condition he pleases. I answer that the position that all
the ports are the King's is not generally true, for subjects may
also be owners of ports . . . But admitting the truth of the
position, yet is the consequence as weak and dangerous as of
any of the rest of their arguments. For are not all the gates
of cities and towns and all the streets and highways in England
the King's and as much subject to be open or shut at his pleasure
as the ports are % . . . Doth it follow therefore that the King may
lay impositions ui)on every man or upon all commodities that
shall pass through any of these places ? ... If the King may not
exact money ... for passage through the gates of cities, much
less may he for passage out at the ports, which are the great
gates of the kingdom, and which the subject ought as freely to
enjoy as the air or the water . . .
Another of their arguments is this. The King is bound to
protect merchants from spoil by the enemy ... It is reason
therefore that his expense be defrayed out of the profit made
by merchants . . . The consequence of this argument is thus far
true. The law expects that the King should protect merchants :
therefore it alloweth him out of merchandize a revenue for the
maintenance of his charge, which is the old custom due, as
at first I said, by the common law. But it is no good conse-
quence that therefore he may take what he list, no more than
he may at his j^leasure increase that old revenue . . .
These are the chief reasons made in maintenance of im-
positions. The weakness of them and their dangerous conse-
quence you cannot but perceive, for by the same reasons taxes
within the land may be as well proved to be lawful. On the
contrary part you have heard the reasons against impositions
fortified by many records and statutes in the point. So as I
conclude that impositions, neither in the time of war or other
the greatest necessity or occasion that may be, much less in the
time of peace, neither upon foreign nor inland commodities of
whatsoever nature, be they never so superfluous or unnecessaiy,
neither upon merchants strangers nor denizens, may be laid by
1610.] Impositions: Bates' case. 351
the King's absolute power, without assent of parliament, be it
for never so short a time, much less to endure for ever, as
ours . . . State Trials, ed. 1779, vol. xi. pp. 36-51.
(c) Mr. Whiteloclces argument, 1 6 1 o \
. . . The case in terms is this. The King by his letters patents
before recited hath ordained, willed and commanded, that these
new impositions, contained in that book of rates, shall be for
ever hereafter paid unto him, his lieirs and successors, upon
pain of his displeasure. Hereupon the question ariseth whether
by this edict and ordinance so made by the King himself, by his
letters patents of his own will and power absolute, without
assent of parliament, he be so lawfully entitled to that he doth
impose, as that thereby he doth alter the property of his subjects'
goods, and is enabled to recover these impositions by course of
law. I think he cannot ; and I ground my opinion upon these
four reasons.
1. It is against the natural frame and constitution of the
policy of this kingdom, which is jus ]mblicuni regni, and so sub-
verteth the fundamental law of the realm, and induceth a new
form of state and government.
2. It is against the municipal law of the land, which is jus
privatum, the law of property and of private right.
3. It is against divers statutes made to restrain our King in
this point.
4. It is against the practice and action of our commonwealth . . .
For the first, it will be admitted for a rule and ground of
state, that in every commonwealth and government there be
some rights of sovereignty, jura majestatis, which regularly and
of common right do belong to the sovereign power of that
state, unless custom or the provisional ordinance of that state do
otherwise dispose of them ; which sovereign power is j)Otestas
suprema, a power that can control all other powers, and cannot
be controlled but by itself. It will not be denied that the power
' This speech is printed in State Trials as Yelverton's, but is shown by
the report in Pari. Debates (C. S.), p. 103, to have been Whitelock's ; cf.
Gardiner, Sist. of England, vol. iii. p. 77. The speech was delivered on
July 2 ((7. /. I. p. 445).
;^S2 James I. [leio.
of imposing hath so great a trust in it . . . that it hath ever
been ranked among those rights of sovereign power. Then is
there no further question to be made but to examine where the
sovereign power is in this kingdom ; for there is the right of
imposition.
The sovereign power is agreed to be in the King ; but in the
King is a twofold power ; the one in -parliament, as he is
assisted with the consent of the whole state ; the other out of
parliament, as he is sole and singular, guided merely by his own
will. And if of these two powers in the King one is greater
than the other, and can direct and control the other, that is
siqyrema potestas, the sovereign power, and the other is sub-
ordinata.
It will then be easily proved, that the power of the King in
parliament is greater than his power out of parliament, and
doth rule and control it ; for if the King make a grant by his
letters patents out of parliament, it bindeth him and his suc-
cessors ; but by his power in parliament he may defeat and
avoid it, and therefore that is the greater power. If a judgment
be given in the King's Bench by the King liimself, as may be
and by the law is intended, a writ of error to reverse this
judgment may be sued before the King in parliament ... So
you see the appeal is from the King out of parliament, to the
King in parliament : . . . for in acts of parliament, be they laws,
grounds or whatsoever else, the act and power is the King's, but
with the assent of the Lords and Commons, which maketh it
the most sovereign and supreme power above all and con-
trollable by none. Besides this right of imposing, there be
others in the kingdom of the same nature. As the power to
make laws ; the power of naturalization ; the power of erection
of arbitrary government ; the power to judge without appeal ;
the power to legitimate, all which do belong to the King only
in parliament . . .
It hath been alleged that those which in this cause have
enforced their reasons from this maxim of ours, that the King
cannot alter the law, have diverted from the question. I say under
favour they have not, for that in effect is the very question now
in hand. For if he alone out of parliament may impose, he
altereth the law of England in one of these two main fundamental
1608.] Impositions : Bates' case. '^^2)
points. He must either take his subjects' goods from them,
without assent of the party, which is against the law, or else
he must give his own letters patents the force of a law, to alter
the projDerty of his subjects' goods, which is also against the
law ... So we see that the power of imposing and power of
making laws are convertihilia and coincidentia, and whosoever
can do the one, can do the other . . .
And if this power of imposing were quietly settled in our
kings, considering what is the greatest use they make of as-
sembling of parliaments, which is the supply of money, I do
not see any likelihood to hope for often meetings in that kind,
because they would provide themselves by that other means . . •
The last assault made against the right of the kingdom, was
an objection grounded upon policy, and matter of state ; as that
it may so fall out that an imposition may be set by a foreign
j^rince that may wring our people, in Avhich case the counter-
poise is, to set on the like here upon the subjects of that
prince ; which policy, if it be not speedily executed but stayed
until a parliament, may in the meantime prove vain and idle
and much damage may be sustained that cannot afterwards be
remedied. This strain of policy maketh nothing to the point of
right. Our rule is in this plain commonwealth of ours, oportet
neminem esse sapientiorem legibus. If there be an incon-
venience, it is fitter to have it removed by a lawful means
than by an unlawful. But this is rather a mischief than an
inconvenience, that is, a prejudice in present of some few but
not hurtful to the commonwealth. And it is more tolerable to
suffer an hurt to some few for a short time, than to give way to
the breach and violation of the right of the whole nation ; for
that is the true inconvenience. Neither need it be so difficult
or tedious to have the consent of the j)arliament, if tliey were
held as they ought or might be . . .
State Trials, ed. 1779, vol. XI. pp. 52-61.
2. Commission to levy Impositions, 1608.
James, by the grace of God King [&c.], to our right trusty
and right well-beloved councillor Robert, Earl of Salisbury,
our High Treasurer of England, greeting. It is well known
A a
354 James I. [leos.
unto all men of judgment and understanding that the care
imposed upon princes to provide for the safety and welfare of
their subjects is accompanied with so great and heavy a charge
as all the circumstances belonging thereunto can hardly fall
under the conceit of any other than of those who are acquainted
with the carriage of public affairs, and therefore this special
power and prerogative (amongst many others) hath both by
men of understanding in all ages and by the laws of all nations
been yielded and acknowledged to be proper and inherent in
the persons of princes, that they may according to their several
occasions raise to themselves such fit and competent means by
levying of customs and impositions upon merchandises trans-
ported out of their kingdoms or brought into their dominions
either by the subjects born under their allegiance or by strangers,
... as to their wisdoms and discretions may seem convenient,
(without prejudice of trade and commerce), sufficiently to supply
and sustain the great charge and expense incident unto them in
the maintenance of their crowns and dignities ; so we at this
time, out of many just and weighty considerations as well for
the exonerating of the crown of divers just and due debts as
for the supply of many other our urgent and important occa-
sions known to us and our council, and now particularly for the
service of Ireland, . . . have been forced to resort to some such
course of raising profit ujion merchandise passing outward and
inward as in former times hath been usual not only by our
progenitors kings and princes of this realm but also often in
practice among other nations . . . And although Ave have re-
solved to lay some kind of impositions both upon many foreign
merchandises brought into this our realm and also upon divers
native commodities and merchandises, . . . yet to the intent it may
appear what care we have in all things of this nature to avoid
the least inconvenience or grievance that may arise to our people,
we have . . . given special charge in the levying of the same
to forbear and exempt all such merchandises as are requisite for
the food and sustenance of our people or which contain matter
of munition necessary for the defence of our realms ... or any
other merchandises or materials fit and proper for the main-
tenance and enlargement of trade and navigation . . . Know ye
therefore that for the considerations aforesaid ... we have
1612.] Impositions : Feudal Aid. '^SS
appointed and ordained . . . that there shall be for ever from
and after the 29th day of September next ensuing . . . levied,
taken and received by way of imposition now newly set, over
and besides the customs, subsidies and other duties heretofore
due and payable unto us upon all merchandises . . . which . . .
shall be either brought from any part beyond the seas unto
this our realm ... or which shall be transported or carried
forth of the same, . . . just so much for the said new imposition
as hath been and is now answered and paid unto us for the
subsidy of the said merchandises, and neither more nor less . . . ;
excepting such merchandises only as in a schedule hereunto
annexed are expressed, which are either altogether freed and
exempted from payment of any of the taid new impositions oi^
else are appointed and set to pay the same in such proportion as
is either more or less than the subsidy payable for the same, as
in the said schedule is more plainly . . . expressed. Wherefore we
do . . . command you that forthwith , . . you give order . . . unto
all customers or collectors . . . and other our officers and
ministers of all our ports . . . that they shall demand, levy and
take of all Englishmen, aliens . . . and all persons . . . which
shall bring into this our realm . . . or . . . carry forth ... of the
same . . . any goods, wares or merchandises, ... so much for and
by way of the said new imposition as hath been and now is
answered and paid unto us for the subsidy of the said mer-
chandises, . . . excepting [as before] . . .
[Dated] at Westminster, 28 July.
Pat. Boll, 6 Jac. I, part 30.
3. Levy of a Feudal aid.
(a) Order to the Chancellor to issue commissions, 16 12.
Whereas our eldest daughter Elizabeth hath long since ac-
complished the age of seven years, by reason whereof there is
due unto us by the laws and statutes of this our realm of
England reasonable aid to be had and levied of all our im-
mediate tenants by knight's service and in soccage for her
marriage : These are therefore to will and require you our
Chancellor to cause to be made and sealed under our great seal
a a 2
Sq6 James I. [1612.
of Euglawd as well several commissions to be directed unto all
the coimties of this our said realm according to the form of
a draught of a commission for that purpose to these presents
annexed, as also several commissions for the Cinque Ports and
for compounding Avith all the Lords spiritual and temporal of
this our realm and with the masters . . . and other the heads of
houses, halls and colleges of our Univer&ities of Oxford and
Cambridge, according to several draughts hereunto likewise an-
nexed, changing such things therein as are to be changed, and to
direct them to such commissioners as you with the Lord Privy
Seal and our Chancellor of our Exchequer shall name and
appoint, returnable at the days of the several draughts prefixed,
and the same several commissions to renew to the same com-
missioners or any others according to your directions as often
as need shall require, and also to name and choose any two of
the said commissioners in every county respectively to be
collectors for the same aid ; and these shall be your sufficient
warrant in that behalf.
Given under our signet at AVoodstock the 30th day of
August in the loth year of our reign of England, France and
Ireland, and of Scotland the six and fortieth.
Rymers Fadera, vol. XVI. p. 724.
(b) Appohitment of Commissioners to collect tlie aid, 16 12.
Eex etc., dilectis et fidelibus suis vice-comiti sui ^
A. B. et C. D. necnon escaetori et feodariis suis in comitatu
praedicto saluteni. Sciatis quod, cum in statuto' in parliamento
Domini Edwardi nuper Pegis Angliae tertii apud Westm. anno
regni sui 25 tento edito, inter caetera provisum fuisset et
ordinatum quod rationabile auxilium ad primogenitam filiam
Pegis maritandam petatur et lovetur secundum formam statuti
inde prius editi et non alio modo : videlicet de quolibet feodo
militari tento de Eege sine medio viginti solidos et non plus,
et de viginti libratis terrae tentis de rege sine medio in socagio
viginti solidos et non plus, prout in eodem statuto inter alia
plenius continetur : Nos de fidclitate et provida circumspectione
vestris in negotiis nostris agendis plurimum confidentes assigna-
* Blank left for the county.
2 25 E. Ill (5) II : cp. Stat. Westm. I (3 EJ. I), § 36.
1612 ] Feudal Aid. o^^']
vimus vos, quatuor vel plures vestrum ac tenore praesentium
damus vobis [etc.] plenam potestatem et authoritatem ad prae-
dictum auxilium viginti solidorum, tarn de singulis feodis
militaribus de nobis sine medio quam de singulis viginti
libratis terrae de nobis in socagio sine medio similiter ut prae-
fertur tentis, de plure phis et de minore minus juxta ratum,
in comitatu praedicto tam infra libertates quam extra, ad
Elizabetham primogenitam filiam nostram, aetatis sexdecim
annorum et amplius jam existentem, brevi (Deo dante) mari-
tandam levandum, ita quod omnes denarios de auxilio praedicto
provenientes habeatis ad scaccarium nostrum die Jovis proximo
post crastinum Purificationis Beatae Mariae proximum futurum,
illi vel illis cui vel quibus denarios illos liberari mandaverimus
liberandos.
Ed ideo vobis [etc.] iiiaudamus quod, habita deliberatione
plenaria super feodis et partibus feodorum ac terrarum prae-
dictorum in comitatu jDraecIicto, infra libertates et extra, per
inquisitiones distincte et aperte quotiens opus fuerit capieudas
vel alias per viam compositionis pro nobis et in nomine nostro
cum hujusmodi tenentibus nostris in ea parte fiendae et aliis
viis et modis legitimis quibus pro acceleratione praemissorum
vobis videbitur exj)edire, ad auxilium praedictum in comitatu
praedicto levandum et colligendum circa praemissa diligenter
intendatis ac ea faciatis et expleatis in forma praedicta, habentes
debitam considerationem instructionum nostrarum quas pro
vesti'a meliore et pleniore directione manibus aliquorum sex vel
plurium consiliariorum nostrorum signatarum vobis una cum
hac nostra commissione mitti fecimus . . .
Et tu praefatus vicecomes venire facias coram vobis [etc.]
quotiens necesse fuerit tot et tales probos et legales homines de
balliva tua tam infra libertates quam extra per quos praemissa
expediri et rei Veritas in hac parte melius sciri poterint et
inquiri.
Damns nihilominus vobis A. B. et C. D. duobus commis-
sionariis tantum authoritatem et potestatem colligeudi et I'e-
cipiendi omnes et singulas pecuniarum sumraas modo et forma
praedictis levandas et ad diem et locum et personas ad hoc
assignatas vel assignandas solvendi, ac ideo tenore praesentium
vos omnes alios commissionarios de praedictis pecuniis sic ut
358 James I. [1612.
praefertur levandis et colligendis pro nobis, haeredibus et suces-
soribus nostris exoneramus et acquietamus imperpetuum, aliquo
ill praemissis contento in contrai'ium non obstante.
Bymer's FcRdera, vol. XVI. p. 724.
(c) Ap2)omt'me7it of Commissiuners to cmnpound for the
aid, 1609 \
Rex etc. praedilecto et fideli consiliario nostro Thomae
Domino Ellesmere Cancellario nostro Angliae [et aliis] salutem.
Sciatis quod, cum in statuto [etc. as in jjreceding writ] ;
cumque separales commissiones nostrae de mandato nostro nuper
emanarunt in singulos comitatus nostios ... ad levandum et
colligendum auxilium praedictum . . . ; unde nobis per duos de
privato concilio nostro humillime supplicatum est quod, cum
tarn ipsi quam caeteri praelati, domini, magnates et proceres
hujus regni nostri Angliae habent et possident diversas terras
inira diversos et separales comitatus, . . . nobis placeret pro com-
modo et quiete ipsorum ac caeterorum dominorum [etc.] ap-
punctuare et assignare aliquos duos fore commissionarios nostros
ad componendum ex parte nostra cum cis ac cum aliis Dominis
. . . : nos itaque . . . tenore praesentium damns vobis aut ali-
quibus quatuor vel pluribus vestrum (quorum vos praefatos
Cancellarium nostrum Angliae aut Thesaurarium nostrum
Angliae unum esse volumus) plenam potestatem ... ad prae-
dictos magnates . . . coram vobis . . . evocandi . . . et ad praedictum
auxilium viginti solidorum . . . per viam compositionis . . .
levandum et colligendum . . . , ita quod omnes denarios de
auxilio praedicto per viam compositionis ut praefertur pro-
venientes habeatis ad scaccarium nostrum die Jovis proximo
post crastinum Sanctae Trinitatis proximum futurum, illi vel
illis cui vel quibus denarios illos liberari mandavimus liber-
andos.
[Dated 21 June, 1609.]
Rymer's Faedera, vol. XVI. p. 678.
^ This is tlie form of writ issued on the occasion of the levy of the aid
for the knighting of Prince Henry in 1609, but tlie same procedure seems
to have been followed in both cases.
1622.] Benevolence. 359
4. Circular Letters for a Benevolence, 1622.
What endeavours his Majesty hath used by treat}' and by all
fair and amiable ways to recover the patrimony of his children
in Germany, now for the most part withholden from them by
force, is not unknown to all his loving subjects, since his
Majesty was pleased to communicate to them in parliament
his whole proceedings in that business : of which treaty, being
of late frustrate, he was enforced to take other resolutions,
namely, to recover tliat by the sword which by other means he
saw no likelihood to compass. For which purpose it was
expected by his Majesty that his people in parliament would
(in a cause so nearly concei'ning his and his children's interest)
have cheerfully contributed thereunto. But the same un-
fortunately failing, his Majesty is constrained, in a case of so
great necessity, to try the dutiful affections of his loving subjects
in another way, as liis predecessors have done in former times,
by propounding unto them a voluntary contribution. And
therefore, as yourselves have already given a liberal and worthy
example (which his Majesty doth take in very gracious part), so
his pleasure is, and we do accordingly hereby authorize and
require your lordships, as well to countenance and assist the
service by your best means, in your next circuits, in the several
counties where you hold general assizes, as also now presently with
all convenient expedition to call before you all the ofiicei's and
attorneys belonging to any his Majesty's courts of justice, and
also all such others of the houses and societies of court or that
otherwise have dependence upon the law,- as are meet to be
treated withal in this kind and have not already contributed ;
and to move them to join willingly in this contribution in some
good measure, answerable to that yourselves and others have
done before, according to their means and fortunes ; wherein
his Majesty doubteth not, but beside the interest of his children
and his own crown and dignity, the religion professed by his
Majesty and happily flourishing undei* him within this kingdom
(having a great part in the success of this business) will be
^ This letter was sent 'to the Justices of the Courts at Westminster
and to the Barons of the Exchequer,' and letters to the same effect to the
Sheriffs, the Justices of the Peace, &c.
360 James I. [1622.
a special motive to incite and persuade them thereunto. Never-
theless, if any person shall, out of obstinacy or disaffection,
refuse to contribute herein proportionably to their estates and
means, you aie to certify their names unto this board.
And so recommending this service to your best care and
endeavour, and pi"aying you to return unto us notes of the
names of such as shall contribute and of the sums offered by
them, we bid [&c.]. Rushwoith, vol. I. p. 60.
[Similar letters were sent to the Archbishof) of Canterbury
and the Bishop of Lincoln, Lord Keeper, for circulation among
the bishops, and were circulated with the following addition.]
Your Lordship by these letters may see how far it concerneth
his Majesty in honour and the realm in safety, that the patri-
mony of the King's children should be recovered again by force
of war, since it cannot be obtained by treaty . . . We therefore,
who upon the receipt of these his Majesty's letters have met
together and duly considered what was most convenient to
be done, have resolved that 3s. lod. in the pound is as little
as we can possibly offer towards so great an enterprise, yet
hoping that such as be of ability will exceed the same. You
shall therefore do well by all forcible reason, drawn from the
defence of religion and justice, to incite all your clergy ... as
also the lecturers and licensed schoolmasters within your
diocese, that with all readiness they do contribute towards this
noble action. And whereas there be divers commendataries,
dignitaries, prebendaries and double-beneficed men that have
livings in several dioceses, we hold it fit that for every one
of these within your Lordship's diocese the contribution be
rateable, so that the monies in such sort to be given may be
brought to London by the loth day of March next, to be
delivered to the hands of such receivers as for that purpose
shall be appointed. And to the end that true notice may be
taken of such as are best disposed to this so good a service,
we expect that your Lordship send up to the Archbishop of
Canterbury the several sums and names of all those who
contribute ; and lastly . . . that you cause the preachers within
your diocese in a grave and discreet fashion to excite the people
1607.] Commissioti of Oyer and Terminer. 361
that, when occasion shall serve, they do extend their liberalities
to so Christian and worthy an enterprise . . .
From Lambeth, 21 Januarii, 162 1.
G. Cantuae.
Jo. Lincoln. C. S.
[and twelve other bishops.]
Carchvell, Docum. Annals, vol. II. p. 141.
/ J7._y [/n/CA TURE.
L Commission of Oyeb and Terminer, 1607.
Jacobus dei gratia Angliae, Scotiae, Franciae et Hiberniae
Rex, fidei defensor, etc., praedilecto et fideli consiliario suo
Thomae domino Ellesmere Cancellario suo Angliae, ac carissimis
consanguineis et consiliariis suis Thomae Comiti Dorset Thesau-
rario suo Angliae, Carolo Comiti Nottingham magno Admirallo
suo Angliae, ac etiam carissimis consanguineis suis Henrico
Comiti Kanciae, Roberto Comiti Sussexiae, ac carissimo con-
sanguineo et consiliario suo Roberto Comiti Salisbury principali
Secretario suo, necnon praedilectis et fidelibus suis Thomae
domino Delaware, Edvvardo domino Morley, Johanni domino
Lumley, Roberto domino Riche, Johanni domino de Hunsdon,
Johanni domino Petre, ac dilectis et fidelibus suis Jacobo Altham
militi uni Baronum Scaccarii sui, Johanni Croke militi uni
servientium suorum ad legem, Edwardo Fenner militi uni
Justiciariorum suorum ad placita coram nobis tenenda assignato,
Ricardo Lewkenor militi Justiciario suo Cestriae, Edwardo Carie
militi magistro jocalium suorum [also to thirty-two knights
(including the Attorney of the Duchy of Lancaster, a Master in
Chancery, and a Serjeant at Law) and eleven Esquires], salutem.
Sciatis quod assignavimus vos et ti-es vestrum quorum aliquem
vestrum vos praefate Jacobe Altham et Johannes Croke unum
esse volumus, Justiciarios nostros ad inquirendum per sacra-
mentum proborum et legalium hominum de comitatibus nostris
Kanciae, Sussexiae, Surreiae, Hertfordiae et Essexiae ac in
comitatu civitatis Cantuariae et eorum quolibet, ac aliis viis
3^2 James I. [ieo7.
modis et niediis quibus melius f^civeritis aut poteritis, tam infra
libertates quam extra, jier quos rei Veritas melius sciri poterit
et inquiri, de quibuscunque proditioiiibus, mispiisionibus, pro-
ditorum ^ insurrectionibus, rebellionibus, murdris, feloniis, homi-
cidiis, interl'ectiouibus, burgulariis, raptibus mulierum, congre-
gationibus et conventiculis illicitis, veiborum prolationiljus,
coadunationibus, misprisionibus, coufederatiouibus, falsis alle-
ganciis, traiisgressionibus, riotis, routis, retentionibus, escapiis,
coutemptibus, falsitatibus, iiegligentiis, concelamentis, manu-
teiieiiciis, oppressionibus, cambipartiis, deceptionibus et aliis
malefactis, ofi'ensis et iniuriis quibuscunque, necnon accessariis
eorumdem infra comitatus et civitatem praedictos aut eorum
ali(iuem, tam infra libertates quam extra, j^er quoscunque et
qualitercunque liabita, facta, perpetrata sive commissa, et per
quos vel per quem, cui vel quibus, quando, qualiter et quomodo,
ac de aliis articulis et circumstantiis premissa et eonim quodlibet
sive eorum aliquos vel aliqua qualitercunque concernentibus,
plenius veritatem ; et ad easdem p)roditiones et alia jDraemissa
(hac vice) audiendum et terminandum secundum legem et
consuetudinem regni nostri Angliae. Et idee vobis mandamus
quod, ad certos dies et loca quos vos vel tres vestrum quorum
[etc. as before] ad lioc j)rovideritis, diligenter super praemissis
faciatis inquisitiones, et praemissa omnia et singula audiatis et
terminetis, ac ea faciatis et expleatis in forma praedicta, facturi
inde quod ad justiciam pertinet secundum legem et consue-
tudinem regni nostri Angliae ; salvis nobis amerciamentis et
aliis ad nos inde spectantibus. Mandavimus enim vicecomitibus
nostris comitatuum et civitatis praedictorum, quod, ad certos
dies et loca, quos vos vel tres vestrum quorum [etc. as before]
eis scire feceritis, venire faciant coram vobis vel tribus vestrum
quorum [etc. as before] tot et tales probos et legales homines
de ballivis suis, tam infra libertates quam extra, per quos rei
Veritas in praemissis melius sciri poterit et inquiri. In cujus
rei, etc. Teste me ipso apud Westm. vicesimo die Februarii
anno regni nostri Angliae, Franciae et Hiberniae quarto et
Scotiae quadragesimo.
Pat. Roll, 4 Jac. I, pai-t i''.
^ ' prodicionum ' in the roll.
1603.] Gaol-delivery : Coitncil of the North. 363
2. Commission of Gaol-deliveky, 1607.
Jacobus, Dei gratia, etc. dilectis et fidelibus suis Jacobo
Altham militi uni Baroiium scaccarii sui, Jobaniii Croke ruiliti
uni servientium suorum ad legem, Henrico Glascock, Jobanni
Sorrell, Johanni Meade et Edwardo Eowlands salutem. Sciatis
quod constituimus vos, quinque, quatuor, tres et duos vestrum,
quorum aliquem vestrum vos, praefate Jacobe Altham et
Johannes Croke, unum esse volumus, justiciarios nostros ad
gaolam nostram castri nostri Cantuariensis necnon ad gaolam
nostram de Maidstone de prisonibus in eisdem existentibus de-
liberandara. Et ideo vobis mandamus quod ad certum diem
quem vos [etc. as before] ad hoc provideritis conveniatis apud
KofFen. ad gaolas illas deliberandas, facturi inde quod ad
justiciam pertinet, secundum legem et consuetudinem regni
nostri Angliae ; salvis nobis amerciamentis et aliis ad nos inde
spectantibus. Mandavimus enim vicecomiti nostro Kanciae
quod, ad certum diem quem vos [etc. as before] ei scire feceritis,
omnes prisones earunidem gaolarum et eorum attachiamenta
coram vobis [etc. as before] ibidem venire faciat.
In cujus rei etc. Teste rege apud Westm. vicesimo die
Februarii, anno regni sui quarto et quadragesimo.
Fat. Roll, 4 Jac. I, part i'^.
3. Instructions for the President and Council of the
North, 1603.
Instructions for our right trusty and well-beloved Edmond
Lord Sheffield, President of our Council in the north parts and
Knight of our Order of the Garter, and for all other hereafter
named being appointed by us to be of the said Council, to be
observed by them according as the same be hereafter declared.
Given the 22nd of July in the year of [our] reign of England,
France and Ireland the first and of Scotland the six and
thirtieth.
I. First, we desiring the quiet government of our people and
subjects of the north parts of this our realm of England, and
for the good and speedy administration of justice to be there
had between party and party, and intending to continue in the
3^4 James I. [1603.
Bame parts our right honourable Council called our Council in
the North, and we knowing the api:)roved wisdom and experience
of you our right trusty and well-beloved Edmond Lord Sheffield,
and upon divers other considerations moving us at this present
time to have your service in those north parts with your earnest
and assured aifection to the execution of justice, have appointed
you to be Lord President of the said Council, with power and
authority to call together all such persons as be appointed to
be of the said Council at all times when you shall think ex-
pedient, and otherwise by jour letters to appoint them to do
such things for the furtherance of justice and for the punish-
ment of evil doers as by the advice of such of the said Council
as then shall be present with yourself shall be thought meet for
the furtherance of our causes and for the due administration of
justice between ourselves [and others].
IL Further, that all due care and good means may be had
for the advancement of God's true religion and service in those
parts, we do require you upon conference with the rest to take
good and speedy order that every bishop, archdeacon or other
commissary or official in his particular jurisdiction do in their
several visitations by oath of side- men take presentment of the
number of recusants and truly certify them to you our President
and Council, and in like manner we would that the justices of
assize should give charge to the justices of the peace themselves
to make enquiry and presentment of the said recusants and to
certify the number of them as they shall have knowledge of
them. Also that no person committed or enjoined to punish-
ment by authority of the High Commission be discharged but
with consent of all such of the commissioners as were present
or consenting to their commitment or punishment or with [con-
sent of] the greatest number, and upon good assurance for
payment to be given of such sums as are imposed upon them.
III. Lastly, that every six months there, be due certificates
returned into our exchequer of all bonds forfeited and of all
fines imposed, and this return to be under the hands of six of
the commissioners, whereof two of them to be some of her
Council there bound to attendance.
IV. We must especially remember you that, where the
authority which we have given to you and that council for
1603.] Council of the North. 365
hearing and determining causes of justice Letween party and
party had his original institution to ease our loving subjects
from charge and toil of coming up to our courts of justice at
Westminster, you will take good care according to the trust
which we have reposed in your integrity and upon justness of
conscience by all means to give them speedy despatch without
driving them to needless attendance, and also to take good heed
that no such causes may be retained there which ai'e not fit for
that place, nor any man be there protected under favour or
partiality to the prejudice or injury of any other.
V. And further we do give unto you the said Lord P. a voice
negative in all counsels, and yet not doubting but that all
things shall be debated at good length for the understanding of
the perfect truth ; . . . and yet nevertheless, because in consulta-
tions authority should not prejudice the wisdom of others, we
mean and so doubt not but that you our President would [take
carej that your negative voice in counsel should not take place
except some one of the councillors which be appointed to daily
attendance and have fees therefore allowed shall be of the same
opinion, or else except some two of the rest of the councillors
not appointed to daily attendance shall be of the same opinion
with you . . .
VI. [Lord President and Council to show mutual resj)ect and
considei'ation.]
VII. And to the intent that the said Council thus established
for the above said purposes may be furnished with such numbers
of assistants to you the said Lord P. as be of wisdom, experience,
good gravity and truth meet to have the names of councillors,
we . . . have elected these persons whose names ensue hereafter
to be our councillors joined in the said Council in the north
parts, that is to say, Matthew Ld. Archbp. of York, Gilbert
Earl of Shrewsbury, George Earl of Cumberland, two of the
Privy Council and Knights of our Order of the Garter, the
Bishops of Durham and Carlisle for the time being [and forty
others, including the Deans of York and Durham, the two
Justices of Assizes in the north, and one of the Barons of the
Exchequer.] And lest it should seem that by nominating so
many to be of our Council there the authority of those who are
of our Council in ordinary and have fee of us for their attend-
^66 James I. [1603.
ance (being persons learned in the laws) should be too much
depressed in their service with you in Council, our pleasure
therefore is that in the sittings and meetings in Council they
who have fee of us shall be placed next unto Barons and Barons'
sons and before all others.
VIII. And we do appoint the said John Herbert knight to
be the secretary of the said Council, and the said John Feme
to exercise the place of secretary there in the absence of the
said John Herbert, and to keep our signet with the said
Council . . .
IX. And our pleasure is that the said Lord P. and two of the
Council bound to continual attendance, besides the secretary of
the said Council, shall be sworn and be Masters of the Chancery,
that they may take recognizance for the peace, for appearances
and performance of orders [&c.] and otherwise as shall be
thought convenient bj^ the Lord P. or Vice-President . . .
X. [Councillors to be diligent and impartial in the executing
of their commission.]
XL And forsomuch as it shall be very chargeable to divers of
the said commission if they should continually attend upon the
Lord P. and Council, ... we therefore ordain that the Lord
Archbp. of York, the Earls of Shrewsbury and Cumberland,
the Bishops of Durham and Carlisle [and thirty-four others
named] shall not be bound to continual attendiince, but to go
and come at their pleasures unless they be required by the said
Lord P. to remain with him for a time for some great and
weighty causes which they shall then accomplish, and yet it
shall be well done for the said Lord P. upon a general confer-
ence at the end of every sessions to limit certain times, places
and numbers of the said councillors not bound to continue
attendance to attend in such sort and manner as the place of
Council may be at all meet times furnished and yet with the
least discommodity to the said councillors, . . . reserving never-
theless special authority to the Lord P. to send for any of them
whensoever he shall think meet.
XII. And because it shall be convenient that a number shall
be continually abiding with the Lord P. with whom he may
consult and commit the charge in hearing of such matters as
shall be exhibited unto them for the more expedition of the
1603.] Council of the North. 367
same, we do cliiefly ordain that Sir Edward Stanhope, Sir
Thomas Hesketh, Charles Hales, Samuel Bevercoats and John
Feme shall give their attendance upon the said Lord P. con-
tinually, or at the least one of them with the secretary, and that
none of them appointed to continual attendance with the said
Lord P. shall part at any time from him without his special
licence and the same not to exceed six weeks at one season,
witliout great sickness or other urgent cause : and if any of them
shall not conveniently for their own private affairs be able to
attend as the said Lord P. shall require them, the fee of such
person shall be defalked and allowed to some other of the
Council which shall be thought meet and shall attend at the
appointment of the said Lord P. and the rest of the Council
which be bound to attendance.
XIII. [Of the sum of £1000 a year with other allowances
for the diet of the Lord President and Council ; of the steward
of the Lord President's household, &c.] . . . And because we
mean that this allowance shall be both for our honour and
service well employed we would that the Lord P. should keep
house either at York or some other meet place nigh thereunto,
and at Newcastle or Carlisle or other place in the north beyond
the city of York when time shall require . . .
XIV. [Of the salaries of councillors bound to continue in
attendance, &c.]
XV. [Of the Serjeant at arms.]
XVL [Salaries and stipend for the Lord P.'s household to be
paid half yearly from the revenues of royal lands in the north
parts.]
XVII. And to furnish the said Lord P. and Council in all
things with authority sufficient to execute justice as well in
causes criminal as in matters of controversy between party and
party, we have commanded and appointed two commissions to
be made out under our great seal of England by virtue whereof
they shall have power in either case to proceed as the matters
occurrent shall appear and require.
XVIII. And further we give full power to the said Lord P.
and Council as well to punish such persons as in anything shall
neglect, contemn or disobey their commandments or the process
directed from them, as all other that shall speak seditious words,
368 James I. [1603,
invent rumours or commit sucli like offences either afjainst us,
the Queen our wife, the Prince or any other of our children or
any of the nobility of our I'ealm or any placed by us in our Privj'
Council or in that Council there (not being treason), whereof any
inconvenience might grow, by pillory, cutting off their ears,
wearing of papers, imprisonment and fine and otherwise at
their discretions, foreseeing that when certain punisliments be
limited by laws and statutes that the same be followed.
XIX And the Lord P. or V. P. may appoint counsellors,
attorneys and process for any poor person so as their cause
may proceed witliout their charge.
XX. And we give full power unto the said Lord P. and
Council being with him or four of them at the least, whereof
the Lord P., Sir John Herbert, the two Justices of Assize for the
time being, Sir Ed. Stanhope, Sir Tho. Hesketh, Charles Hales,
Samuel Bevercoats or John Feme to be two, with the Lord P.
or V. P. to assess fines of all persons that shall be lawfully
convicted or indicted for any riot (how many soever they be in
number) or other offence before them, unless the matter of such
riot or offence shall be thought to them of such importance as
the same shall seem meet to be signified unto us to be punished
in such sort by the order of the Privy Council attendant upon
our ]")erson as the same may be noted for an example to others.
XXL And we give full power and authority to the said
Lord P. and Council or to three of them at the least, whereof the
Lord P. always to be one or [the] V. P. and one other bounden
to continual attendance to be two, to award and assess costs
and damages as well to the plaintiffs as to the defendants by their
discretions, and also to award execution of their decrees and
orders and to punish the breakers thereof being parties to the
same according to their discretions as heretofore hath been
used ; all which decrees and orders the secretary shall be bound
incontinently upon the promulgation of the same to write or
cause to be written in one fair book which shall remain in the
hands and custody of the said Lord P. at some convenient place
at York, in such sort as the same may be at all times well kept
and preserved under lock and key . . .
XXII. [Of the fees payable for recognizances, decrees, attach-
ments and other processes.]
1603.] Council of the North. 369
XXIII. [Of the appointment of an examiner or examiners of
witnesses and the fees payable to the same.]
XXIV. And for the more certain and brief determination
of matters in those parts we do by these presents ordain
tlie said Lord P. and Council shall keep four general sittings
or sessions in the year, the same to be kept in such place
and places and at such and for so long time as the said
Lord P. for the time being and two of the attendants shall
think meet, the number of causes considered and other present
occasions respected, except they shall be otherwise especially
commanded.
XXV. And forasmuch as a great number of our tenants and
farmers have been heretofore retained with sundry persons by
way [of] livery, badge or cognizance, by reason whereof when
we should have had their service they were rather at command-
ment of other men than (according to their duty of allegiance)
to us of whom they have their living, our pleasure and express
commandment is that none of the said Council or others shall
by any means retain or entertain any of our tenants or farmers,
of what degree soever the same be, in such sort as they or any
of them shall account themselves bound to do him or them any
other service than as to our officers having office or being
appointed in service there, unless the said farmers and tenants
shall be continually attendant and uprising and downlying in
the house of him that shall so retain them : and the said Lord
P. and Council shall in every general sitting give special notice
and charge that no nobleman or other shall retain any of the
said tenants or farmers otherwise than is aforesaid, charging all
the said farmers and tenants, upon pain of forfeiture of their
farms and holds and incurring our further displeasure and
indignation, in no wise to agree to any retainer otherwise than
is aforesaid, but wholly to depend upon us and upon such as we
have or shall appoint to be our officers, rulers and directors of
them : and for the better execution hereof the said Lord P. and
Council shall first provide to be clear of this crime themselves
and cause inquisition to be made and verdicts to be taken
thereof or otherwise information to be made by our attorney,
and upon due examination thereof tlie offenders to be duly
punished as the cause shall require, at the discretion of the
Bb
37° James I. [i603.
Lord P. or V. P. and two of the Council bounden to continual
attendance.
XXVI. And our further pleasure is that in every such sitting
and in all places where the said Lord P. and Council shall have
any notable assembly before them they shall give straight charge
and commandment to the people to conform themselves in all
things to the observation of such laws, ordinances and deter-
minations as be or shall be made . . . by us or our Privy
Council [or] our Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical or by
'Order of our Parliament, touching religion and the Divine Service
set forth ; and for good and due execution thereof they shall be
aiding and assisting to the Archbishop of York, the other bishops
and ecclesiastical ministers within every their jurisdiction.
XXVII. Also our express pleasure and commandment is that
the President and Council with all their policies . . . shall
endeavour to repress all Popish priests, seminary priests and
other seducers of our subjects, and shall within the limits of
their authority give warrant and direction under our signet
there for the search of any house or places where any such
persons shall be suspected to be received or remain or abide,
and also shall in their gaol- delivery before them to be held put
in execution with all severity [the] laws made and ordained
against priests, seminaries and their receivers . . . and against
recusants : and for a better discovery shall call before them all
such persons as shall be suspected to have contracted clan-
destine and secret marriage by Popish priests or secretly and
unlawfully to have baptised their children after the Popish
manner, and their offences (not being treason or felony) in their
sessions and sittings, after due proof hereof had by examination
of witnesses or other means, to punish by fine and imprisonment
at their disci'etions ; and also shall in their sessions and sittings,
upon information and complaint unto them made, by examination
of witnesses or other good proof according to their discretions,
hear and determine and punish severely all disorders and con-
tempts made of any wari'ants and directions given for the
searching out and apprehending of such seducers or offenders
and their receivers, aiders and maintainers.
XXVIII. Further our pleasure is that the said Lord P. and
Council shall from time to time make diligent and effectual
1603.] Council of the North. 371
inquisition of the wrongful taking in of commons and other
grounds and the decay of tillage and of towns or houses of
husbandry contrary to the laws, and of all offences against one
Act entitled an Act against the decaying of towns and houses
of husbandry and against one Act entitled an Act for the main-
tenance of liusbandry and tillage made in the 39th year of
Queen Elizabeth [39 & 40 Eliz. i and 2] ; and leaving all respects
and aflfections apart they shall tahe such order for redress of
enormities used in the same as the poor people be not oppressed
and forced to go begging, but that they may live after their
good sorts and qualities : and for the better execution hereof
they shall (if they find any notorious malefactor iai this behalf
of any great wealth) cause the extremity of the law to be executed
against him publicly, that the example of some notable punish-
ment may make others afraid to do the like ; and yet in this
process such discretion must be used as the common disordered
people do not thereby take any courage to meddle therein by
any violence of themselves, but to expect the redress of our
authority and laws.
XXIX. And if it shall happen that the Lord P. and Council
shall vary in opinion for the law or for any order to be taken in
the matter or fact before them, if the matter or case touch or
concern the law then the opinion of the greater or more part of
the number of councillors appointed to continual attendance
being there present shall take place and determine the doubt :
and if there be on both parts an equal like number of coun-
cillors bound to continue in attendance, then that part where-
unto the Lord P. or V. P. in his absence shall agree shall be
followed and take place : and if the case and matter be of
importance and the question and doubt be of the law, then the
Lord P. and Council shall signify the cause and matter to the
justices of assize or to the judges sitting at Westminster, who
shall with diligence advertise them again of their opinions
therein : and if the matter be of great importance and not
a question of the law, and order [be] necessary to be taken upon
the fact, then the said Lord P. and Council shall in that case
advertise us or our Privy Council attendant upon our person of
the same, whereupon they shall have knowledge again how to
use themselves in that behalf.
B b 2
372 James I. [1603.
XXX. And the said Lord P. and Council shall have power
and authority upon complaint of spoil extortions and oppressions
or violent and unlawful expulsions to examine the same speedily
and shall take order that the party grieved may have due and
undelayed remedy and restitution, and for want of ability in
the offenders therein they may be punished otherwise corporally
to the example of others.
XXXI. And if any man of what degree soever he be shall,
upon good, lawful and reasonable cause or matter so appearing
to the Lord P. and Council, by information or otherwise demand
surety of peace or justice against any great lord or nobleman of
the country, the said Lord P. and Council shall in that case
grant the petition of the poorest man against the richest or
against the greatest lord, being of the council or other, as they
shall grant the same (being lawfully asked) against men of the
meanest sort, and that letters or process of suj)ersedeas may be
awarded upon bonds or recognizances for the peace or good
behaviour as there hath been accustomed.
XXXII. And our pleasure is further that if any person
dwelling or resiant within the limits of this commission, against
whom complaint shall be made for any extortion, misdemeanour
or other offence or cause, and that process hath been directed
forth under our signet there and been delivered unto the said
party so offending for his personal appearance to answer the
matter, whereof good proof to be made before the Lord P. and
Council, and the said person so offending neither for the said
process nor yet for any attachment, proclamation of allegiance
nor other process of rebellion will come in to make answer, but
absent himself or fly out of the limits of this said commission,
then the said Lord P. or V. P. or three of the Council (whereof
two of them to be of those bounden to continual attendance)
shall have full power to send forth new attachments or other
process with special letters declaring the offence to the sheriff
of that county where he is fled and doth remain, to apprehend
and attach him ; and if he shall . . . keep himself secret in the
same county or fly out of the county ... in such secret sort
that process cannot be served, then upon return or certificate
thereof the Lord P. or V. P. and Council as is aforesaid shall
have not only full power to sequester the profits of the lands,
1603.] Council of the North. 373
goods and chattels . . . but also to proceed to the hearing
examination and determination of the said matter, . . . and
further to assess such fines of the said disobedient person . . .
as to the discretion of the said Lord P. [etc.] shall seem
convenient : and after such sequestration our pleasure is that
there shall be process of proclamation two general market days
in the market town next to the said habitation, to this effect :
that the said offender or some lawfully authorized for him shall
the first day of the next sitting of the said Council after the
return of the said sequestration apjoear before the said Lord P.
[etc.] and answer the matters against him, and take order as
appertaineth for all offences . . . and amercements, or otherwise
the profits of his lands and goods to be taken to our use until
such offender shall appear and submit himself . . . ; and further
our pleasure is that after such sequestration the Lord P. [&c.]
shall have full power ... to examine the matters comjilained
upon, and if they by proofs, witnesses or otherwise can con-
veniently come to the knowledge thereof, then to take order and
to see the plaintiff' satisfied according to justice ...
XXXII I. And for so much as it may chance the Lord P. to
be sometimes disabled that he shall not be able to travel for
the direction of such matters as then shall occur, or shall be
called to the Parliament or otherwise employed in our affairs . . . ;
therefore to the intent that the said Council may be . . . full and
perfect, and that there may be at all times in the same one
pel son to direct all things in such order and form as the
Lord P. might do, . . . our pleasure is that when the said Lord P.
shall be so diseased, absented or letted as aforesaid, . . . that
then he shall name and appoint such a meet person being of the
council as by him the Lord P. shall be thought meet during his
absence ; and we during the said time do give unto the person
so appointed the name of Vice President . . .
XXXIV. [Respect to be shown to the V. P. as to the
Lord P.]
XXXV. [Of the cancelling of recognizances.]
XXXVI. We also further ordain that the said Lord P. or
V. P. and two of the Council bound to continual attendance
shall, as they see occasion, make process against any disobedient
person upon pain of allegiance and by proclamation of rebellion
374 James I. [1603.
in such sort as is used in our Court of Chancery, and shall also
by imprisonment, fine, amercement or otherwise punish all
persons for contempts, disobediences, deceits, giving of false
witness, wilful perjury, forging of false deeds, maintenance
and all other misdemeanours against our laws that l)e committed
within the limits of the aforesaid commission, and shall also by
fine, amercements or otherwise punish all sheriffs, mayors,
bailiffs and all other officers and ministers that shall neglect
their duties . . .
XXXVII. Our pleasure also is that the said Lord P. [etc.]
shall once every year or oftener, as need shall require, call before
them the justices of j^eace of the county of York and the city of
York, and as they shall see cause likewise in all other shires
within their commission when they shall sit in the said shires,
to enquire and know of them the state of the countiies and
matters amiss and meet to be reformed, and thereupon to take
order and give charge to the said justices for the amendment
and reformation of things amiss ; . . . and if any notable offence
shall appear iji any of the said justices of peace, then the
Lord P. [&c.] shall take order by fine or otherwise for reforma-
tion thei'eof or else certify the same to our Council in the Star-
Chamber and take bonds of the offenders for their appearance
before the said Council in the Star-Chamber.
XXXVIII. And to the end that . . . the said suitors or any
others whom our said President or Council shall by our process
call before them may quietly have access and attend our said
President and Council for justice and expedition of their suits
. . . without any impeachment or molestation by arrests from
any court of any city, town corporate or other inferior court or
jurisdiction within the said limits of the said commission
(which privileges are so incident to our high courts of justice at
Westminster, that without the same in many cases they cannot
administer our laws and give that i-elief to our subjects that is
requisite), therefore our pleasure is that all our subjects as well
in making their repair to our said P. and council, either to
prosecute or defend any complaint or suit commenced, ... as
likewise during the time of their necessary abode or stay about
the same and in their return home again, shall be privileged
and discharged from all arrests by any process or warrants
1603.] Council of the North. 375
from any of the said inferior courts . . . not being process or
warrants for any treason, felony or of execution . . .
XXXIX. And we do further order that John Jackson, esquire,
shall be an attorney for that Council in the north parts, and that
he or any other one attorney theie for the time being shall
prosecute and set forth for us as well by way of information as
by indictment before the Lord P. [&c.] ... all offences and
matters of treason, murder, felony, riot, force, breach of peace,
and all other misdemeanouis or offences touching the breach of
any other laws for the good order and quiet of those north
parts, and the said attorney shall procure forth process upon
information before the said Council against all such as sliall
break or forfeit anj' recognizance or obligation taken by the
Lord P. [&c.] or by any sheriff or other officers for any appear-
ance before the taid Council or for the peace or other cause . . .
[the attorney to be bound with two sureties to render account
of all monies received].
XL. [Of the attorney's salary.]
XLI. [Certificate of all monies received by the attorney to
be sent in yearly to the Privy Council.]
XLII. [The Lord P. &c. may order the attorney to disburse
money for certain purposes.]
XLIII. And further our pleasure is that the said Lord P. or
V. P. and council shall aid, help and assist all the bishops,
ordinaries and commissioners for matters of religion within the
limits and jurisdiction of the said Council as well for the good
observation and execution of all things set forth in the Book of
Common Prayer and administration of the Sacraments and
[in the] Injunctions, as also for the apprehension, correction and
punishment of all such persons as shall contemn or disobey the
same bishops [&c.] : and that the said bishops and ordinaries be
assisted in the punishment of such as do daily marry unlawfully
and against the law of God and the realm and of such other as
notoriously live and continue in adultery to the slander and
infamy of God's people.
XLIV. [Lord P. and three of the quorum may alter the fees
of counsellors and attorneys practising before them.]
XLV. And further our pleasure is that when any persons in
the counties of Northumberland, "Westmoreland, Cumberland,
376 James I. [leos.
and the bishopric of Durham, or the towns of Newcastle, Carlisle
or Berwick shall disobey any process directed from our said
Council or any their ordei's and decrees . . . and cannot con-
veniently be apprehended or taken by the sheriffs or their
cfficers, then the said Lord P. and Council shall write letters or
direct process to the Lords Wardens of the Marches or to the
Bishop of Durham or to his officers or to the chief officers of
the towns and castles of Newcastle, Carlisle and Berwick . . .
for the apprehension and order of the said persons . . .
XLVI. And our pleasure is that the Lord P. [&c.] shall
admonish and give in charge to the Lords Wardens of the
Marches of England against Scotland and all the justices of
peace in the counties of Northumberland, Westmoreland, Cum-
berland and Durham to foresee that the towns, villages and
farms be not tbere decayed or wasted nor the lands converted
from tillage to pasture nor so taken from the houses that the
tenants and farmers thereof cannot be able to keep horses or
geldings for service and defence of the frontiers there as
heretofore in times past they have been, for, that being suffered,
the frontiers shall be much depopulated and made weak ; where-
fore our pleasure is that the tame shall not be permitted, and
that if any such defaults have been within forty years past the
same to be amended and reformed with all speed and at the
furthest within one year; and the Council shall for that purpose
direct forth commissions at all times convenient, and not cease
until some reformation be had according to one statute made in
the 23rd year of Queen Elizabeth [23 Eliz. 4].
XLVII. And where in the time of the late Queen Mary
a very good law [2 & 3 P. & M. i. § i] was established by Act
of Parliament for the enclosure of divers grounds nigh the
frontiers, we charge the said Lord P. and the whole council . . .
to consult and determine by some good means how the same
might be put in speedy execution . . .
XLVIIL Also whereas we perceive that this present mild-
ness and favour doth much bolden the evil disposed, we earnestly
require the said Lord P. [&c.J for some convenient season from
henceforth to use entire direct severity against notable offenders
and to punish them without long delay, not only by pain of
body and imprisonment but also by good fines and amerce-
1603.] Council of the North. 377
ments so as the opiuion or report of severity in the beginning
may work that by force which is and hath been long seen will
not be obtained by favours and gentleness, as by good experience
of the like in the parts of Wales much good and quiet hath
there ensued and contrariwise much hurt hath thereof in those
parts followed.
XLIX ^ Finally considering that divers ill-affected persons
have withdrawn themselves from their obedience and without
license and contrary to the duties of their allegiance fled out of
the realm and have attempted divers things against us and our
realm their native country, we think it convenient that it be
diligently considered by you our said P. and Council how and in
what sort such occasions or any others like thereto may be
avoided or prevented, either for devising of seeds of rebellion by
false tales or reports, or by seeking through colour of rule and
offices or by unlawful retaining of any of our tenants or
subjects : and to that end Ave will that you cause inquisition to
be made in sundry parts of those north parts where cause shall
be of unlawful retaining of our subjects by any persons, and
namely of them which have so withdrawn themselves or departed
our realm,
L. You shall do well also to cause regard to be had of such
persons as at any time have offended and have received their
pardons in what sort they do carry themselves for avoiding of
occasions of suspect, who if they live honestly and circumspectly
are the more to be allowed and favoured. Like regard would
be bad to the friends and servants of such as have so withdrawn
themselves or are fled out of the realm or that have suffered
according to their deserts, that there be no resort unto them of
suspected persons with messages to kindle any spark of new
troubles . . .
LI. And forasmuch as all our said councillors and likewise
all others which shall be hereafter appointed to be of our said
Council in those north parts before their admittance into their
several charges are to take their oaths as well of obedience to
us as for their true and faithful service in the place of coun-
1 ' All the articles following are ne^, and be not in the former in-
structions ' (contemporary note in margin).
378 James I. [1617.
cillors . . . our pleasure is, that you the Lord P. shall cause
them in your presence to take their said several oaths . . .
LII. [Proclamation to he made by the Lord Mayor and
Sheriffs of York that the above commission has been issued.]
[Signed] Ko. Cecyll.
Exam, per Ed. Coke.
Concord, cum original!,
Jo. Feene.
Slate Papers {Dom.) James I, ii. p. 74.
4. Instkuctions for the Peesident and Council of
Wales, 16 17.
Instructions given by our most gracious sovereign Lord,
James, by the grace of God King of England, Scotland,, France
and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Sec, to his right trusty and
right well beloved, Willinm Lord Compton, Lord President of
his Council within his Majesty's dominion and principality of
Wales and marches of the same, and to all hereafter mentioned
and appointed to be of his said Council . . .
Signed by his Majesty at Theobald's the twelfth day of
November in the year of his Majesty's reign of England, France
and Ireland the fifteenth, and of Scotland the one-and-fiftieth,
1617.
I. First, his Maje&ty, much desiring the continuance of quiet-
ness and good government of his Highness' people and subjects
within the said dominion and principality of W^ales and the
marches of the same, by the placing and continuance of a
President and Council there, as heretofore hath been used for the
good and indifferent administration of justice to his subjects
of those parts, and for the good opinion by his Highness con-
ceived in his right trusty and right well-beloved William Lord
Compton, ... by these presents doth appoint the said William
Lord Compton to be president of that Council during his
Majesty's will and pleasure, and therefore doth allow to him or
to his vice-president for the time being the authority to call
together all such as be ... of the said Council at all times when
it shall be thought convenient, or otherwise by letters to appoint
them and every of them to do all such things for the advance-
ment of justice and for the suppressing and punishing of male-
1617.] Council of Wales. 379
factors and for tlie furthering of his Majesty's affairs, according
to these instructions, as shall be requisite or convenient . . .
IE. And to tlie intent the Lord President thus established
may at all times be furnished and assisted with a convenient
number of men of understanding, experience and discretion and
thought meet to have the names of his Majesty's councillors,
his Majesty upon good advice and deliberation hath elected
these jiersons whose names ensue hereafter to be of the said
Council with the said Lord President: That is to say. Sir Francis
Bacon, knight, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England ;
Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, Lord Treasurer of England ; Edward,
Earl of Worcester, Lord Privy Seal ; William, Earl of Pembroke,
Lord Chamberlain of his Majesty's household [and '^8 others'] :
all which councillors his Highness doubteth not but every
of them will be at all times diligent and willing to do unto his
Majesty such service to their uttermost endeavours as shall be
to his Highness' contentation and to the discharge of their
duties . . .; and his Majesty's pleasure is that every of the said
councillors shall have voice and place in all sittings and councils
according as they are befoie in these instructions named, saving
to the Chief Justice of Chester his place as anciently hath been
used.
III. And because it is expedient a convenient aumber of the
said councillors both of learning and experience be continually
resident at the said Council for the assistance of the Lord
President or Vice-jiresident for the time being, . . . his Majesty's
pleasure is . . . that the said Sir Thomas Chamberlain, knight,
Chief Justice of Chester, Sir Henry Townshetid^, knight, Sir
Francis Ewre**, knight, and Nicholas Overbury^, esquii'e, or three
of them at the least (whereof the said Chief Justice of Chester
to be one) shall give their continual attendance at the said
Council for the whole terms, and two of them at the least for
the times of the vacation between the terms . . . , saving for
such times as any of them shall ride their circuits in the vaca-
tions between the terms . . . ; in consideration of which service
^ The list includes seven earls, one viscount, nine bishops, three temporal
lords, and several judges.
* Second Justice of Chester. ' A Justice of North Wales.
* A Justice of South Wales.
3^0 James I. [1617.
and residency to be thus accomplished for his Majesty ... his
Majesty . . . doth by these present instructions allow unto the
said Chief Justice all such fees and allowances as have been
anciently belonging to the Chief Justice of Cliester for the time
being . , . and over and l^esides that to the said Chief Justice of
Chester the sum of £100 by the year of late years added . . . ;
and to the said Sir Henry Townshend, knight, Sir Francis
Ewre, knight, and Nicholas Overbury, esquire, to every of
them the sum of one hundred marks by the year . . . ; and for
the better assistance of the said Loi-d P. or V. P. for the time
being and of the said council, when it shall seem convenient,
the said Lord P. or V. P. for the time being or in their absence
or vacancy the Chief Justice of Chester and council attending
may call unto him or them any such other of the council learned
as he or they shall think convenient, and the same councillors
having no fees certain by these instructions shall, for so many
days as they shall make their abode, receive the fees severally
per poll of 6s. 8<i. per diem,
IV. And his Majesty straightly commandeth that none ... of
his Majesty's Council in the said principality and rftarches of
Wales shall practice or give counsel in any cause or suit in
that court . . .
V. And his Majesty's pleasure is, that the said Council shall
hold their terms and sittings at the most meet places for suitors
to resort unto, that is to say in the winter time the sessions and
sittings for Michaelmas term and Hilary term, with the time
of vacation between those terms, shall be kept at Ludlow . . . ,
and for the rest of the year the abode of the Lord P. [&c.] may
be at the said town of Ludlow ... or elsewhere within the limits
of their jurisdiction as shall be by them thought meetest for
suitors to resort unto.
VI. And the King's Majesty's pleasui-e is, that the said
Lord P. [&c.] by all lawful ways and means they can shall . . .
examine, search out and repress all treasons, petty treasons,
murders, rapes, burglaries, robberies and other felonies, and the
accessories to the same, which . . . shall arise within the
dominion, principality and country of Wales, and the marches
of the same, and the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford,
Salop and Monmouth, the liberties of his Majesty's Duchy of
1617.] Council of Wales. 381
Lancaster within tlie counties aforesaid; the cities of Gloucester,
Worcester and Hereford, the town of Haverford West, the
county of the city of Gloucester and the county of the town of
Haverford West, and within all the counties, cities, towns,
franchises and liberties within the limit aforesaid ; and shall
apprehend all such offenders, their confederates and receivers,
and them commit to prison there to remain until they shall be
lawfully , . . delivered . . .
VII. And his Majesty's pleasure is, that his solicitor for the
said Council shall be continually there resident, and shall write
and take examinations . . . and shall attend with the said
examinations at all sessions and assizes as occasions shall
require . . .
VIII. And . . . his Highness doth by these presents give full
power and authority to the said Lord P. [&c.] or any three of
them at the least, whereof the Lord P. or V. P. for the time
being or the Chief Justice of Chester to be one, to examine, hear
and determine as well by examination of witnesses and of the
parties upon inteirogatories as by all other good ways and
means by their wisdoms and discretions, as hei'etofore hath been
used by the said Council for the time being, all . . . forgeries,
extortions, briberies, exactions, comorthes and begging or un-
lawful gathering of many for any causes or pretences whatsoever,
maintenances, champarties, embraceries, oppressions, vexations,
conspiracies, embezzling, razing or defacing of any bills, plead-
ings, orders, rules, proceedings or records of the same court,
escapes, riots, routs and unlawful assemblies, forestalling and
engrossing, corruptions, falsehoods, frauds, unlawful hunting in
forests, chases, parks and warrens, not amending high ways and
bridges, erecting of cottages, taking in or keeping of inmates,
keeping of disordered alehouses . . . and all other offences . . .
committed against the laws of this realm by any . . . persons of
what degree soever they be within the said dominion and prin-
cipality of Wales [&c.] and to punish the same according to
their wisdoms and discretions, as well by fine and imprisonment
as otherwise, according to the quality of their offences, as to
them shall seem meet.
IX. And further the said Lord P. [&c.] shall . . . diligently
enquire within the limits of their jurisdiction as is aforesaid of
383 James 1. [1617.
all such as, under pretence and colour of taking of any musters
of any soldiers or of provis^ion of armour and weapons, have
unlawfully and indirectly exacted any sums of money or other
gift whatsoever, and upon due proof thereof . . . shall not only
constrain such officer ... or other persons whatsoever to restore
. . . the double value of the thing that is so taken . . . but also
shall punish them with fine and imprisonment according to
their discretions and the laws and ordinances in that behalf
provided.
X. And his Majesty . , . doth by these presents give full
power to the said Lord P. [&c.] to hear and determine all
manner of perjuries committed within the said dominion [&c.],
in such wise as the Lord P. and Council there for the time
being might have done and used to do before the statute
[5 Eliz. 9. § 7] made in the fifth year of the reign of the late
Queen Elizabeth touching the punishing of perjury . . .
XL And whereas divers lewd and malicious persons have
heretofore and of late days more and more devised ... or pub-
lished many false and seditious tales . . . books, letters and
libels, which amongst the people have wrought and hereafter
may work great mischief, . . . his Majesty's pleasure is, . . . when-
soever any such false and seditious tales [&c.] shall be devised
... or dispersed within any the limits or jurisdictions aforesaid,
that the publishers . . . thereof be forthwith stayed, and all
means used to attach them all from one to another until the
first author may be apprehended ; and such offenders shall be
duly openly punished by the said Lord P. [&c.] by fine, im-
prisonment, wearing of papers and the like, according to their
discretion : but if any shall offend in so high a nature as may
tend to the danger or dishonour of his ^lajesty or the state,
then the said Lord P. [&c.] shall forbear to proceed thereupon
and shall certify his Majesty or the Lords of his Privy Council
of the case, and thereupon shall do as they shall be in that
behalf directed.
XIL And whereas divers persons of Wales and the marches
[&c.] have commonly used to go as well to churches as in fairs,
markets and other places of public meeting in harness and
privy coats, the King's Highness' pleasure is that from hence-
forth no man shall wear either harness or privy coat in churches,
1617.] Council of Wales. 383
fairs or markets or any other place of public meeting, except
suchi as shall be licenced . . . : and in case that any man shall
do contrary to this article, that then the officers to whom it
shall appertain shall incontinently seize the said harness or
privy coat to the King's Majesty's use and then send the persons
wearing the same to the Lord P. [&c.] to be punished by im-
prisonment and fine according to the discretions of the said
Lord P. [&c.] . . .
XIII. And further his Majesty doth give full power to the
Lord P. [&c.] to make i^rcclamations in his Highness' name as
often as they shall think good for the better order and quieting
of his Majesty's subjects within the principality [&c.J, and to
punish the offenders for their contempts against such proclama-
tion by fine or imprisonment as tlie case shall require.
XIV. And his Majesty doth give full power to the said
Lord P. [&c.] to hear and determine and also to punish all
manner of persons within the limits and jurisdictions aforesaid
which shall be notoriously known to live contrary to God's
laws and the King's Highness' ecclesiastical laws in incest,
adultery or fornication . . . ; provided always that no person
shall be called in question by the force of this article for any
the offences aforesaid, unless the same offences shall be . . .
committed within the space of three years next before informa-
tion thereof given, nor that any such oifender shall be examined
upon oath; provided also that the ordinary of every diocese
where any such offender shall be resident may j>roceed for the
better satisfying the congregation and for the more knowledge
of offenders' penitence in that behalf according to the laws and
censures of the Church as heretofore they have done . . .
XV. And further his Majesty doth give full power to the
said Lord P. [&c.] to examine, hear and determine as well upon
bill exhibited by the plaintiff and the answer of the defendant
thereunto made upon oath and by examination of witnesses . . .
as by all other good ways and means . . . , as heretofore hath
been used by the said Council, all manner of complaints, petitions
and informations ... for any cause or matter arising within the
said dominion and principality [&c.], as well concerning lands,
tenements or hereditaments, either of freehold or customary or
copyhold, as goods and chattels for which there shall upon due
3^4 James I. [1617.
proof appear clear matter for the plaintiff to be relieved in
equity and good conscience and that lie is without ordinary
remedy by the common law.
XVI. And his Majesty dotb likewise give power to the said
Lord P. [ifec], if any person that hath been by the space of
three years quietly in possession of any lands, tenements or
hereditaments . . . within the said dominions [&c.] shall be
riotously, forcibly, or by fraudulent practice outed of the same
or otherwise shall be vexed with often and continual suits or
disturbances, that in such cases, though the party grieved may
have common remedy by the ordinary law, they may, upon
complaint thereof made unto them by bill or information, take
order for the restoring of the j^ossession of the same lands [&c.]
until the title or interest of the same shall be decided or tried
by the due course of the common law . . .
XVII. And his Majesty doth further give full power to the
said Lord P. [&c.] to hear and determine ... all debts, detenues,
covenants, accounts, assumptions and other personal actions
arising within the said dominion [&c.], where the debt ... or the
damage therein alleged shall not exceed the full sum of
£.50, and which shall not any way concern the title or interest
of freehold, customary or copyhold or chattel real . . . ; and also
to hear and determine in like manner ... all other actions
personal though the same be for debt or damages to the
sum of £50 or above, which shall not any way concern the
title or interest of freehold or customaiy or copyhold or chattel
real . . . , in cases where in respect of any inequality or disa-
bility of the complainant by poverty or otherwise it shall
appear that the party plaintiff is not able to sue at the com-
mon law ; provided that such inequality or disability of the
complainant be certified ... by the justices of assizes or great
sessions where the said plaintiff shall dwell or by one of them,
or by the bishop of the diocese or two justices of the peace of
the said county . . .
[XVIII. Power to award costs.]
[XIX. Of letters missive, &c.]
[XX. Power to issue processes as usual.]
XXI. And likewise his Majesty doth hereby give full power
to the said Lord P. [&c.], upon just cause of equity to them
1617.] Council of Wales. 385
appearing either by the answer of the defendant ... or upon
any other just occasion whereupon the court of Chancery useth
to grant injunction for stay of suits of law, to award in-
junctions or orders for the stay of any proceedings ... in any
temporal court . . . within the limits aforesaid : provided that
by colour thereof they do not award any injunction or order
for stay of any suit depending in the courts of King's Bench,
Common Pleas or Exchequer, nor before the justices of Assize
or justices of Oyer or Terminer, or justices of the Great Sessions
in the dominion of Wales or the General Sessions of the peace
of any county within the said limits.
XXII. [Of the administering of oaths.]
XXIII. [Of pursuivants.]
XXIV. And further his Majesty commandeth that all matters
. . . shall be heard and determined in open court before the Lord
P. [»fec.], and likewise all orders and rules taken before them in
any causes shall be likewise done in open court . . .
XXV. [Arrangement of business in court.]
XXVI. [What causes may be heard in vacation.]
XXVII. [Certain orders of Queen Elizabeth to be observed.]
XXVIII. XXIX. [Register of orders and custody of records.]
XXX. [Power to fine and take recognizances.]
XXXI-XXXIII, [Of the making, keeping, &c. of the book
of fines.]
XXXIV. [No new offices to be made or fees raised.]
XXXV. And his Majesty's pleasure is, that for avoiding of all
corruption to be used by any purveyor or other officer appointed
to provide carriages for removes and for wood and fuel and such
other necessaries for the said Council, that from henceforth the
country shall not be charged with more carriages than shall be
requisite . . . ; and therefore his Highness commandeth that all
such carriages shall be appointed from time to time by the
special warrant of the Lord P. [&c.] . . .
XXXVI. And his Majesty's further will and pleasure is,
that if at any time hereafter it shall happen that the whole
provision cannot be had of fuel, wood and coal for the expenses
of the said household out of his Highness' woods . . . domains
within the limits aforesaid, that then the Lord P. [&c.] shall
give order to the clerk or receiver of the fines aforesaid for
C c
^^6 James I. [1617.
payment of all such sums of money as shall be laid out for all
such necessary fuel [&c.].
XXXVII, XXXVI II. [Of the serjeant at arms and mes-
sengers.]
XXXIX. And forasmuch as under pretence of privilege of
the court there liath been inoi-eased not only many unnecessary
suits in courts, but also unnecessary suitors, supposing them-
selves to be privileged persons which are not indeed, and
thereby having their suits received without paying of fees, . . .
to the discredit and slander of the same ; for the reformation
thereof it is his Majesty's pleasure that from henceforth there
shall be no allowance of privilege for the receiving of such suits
in the name of any persons other than such to whom the privilege
of the court of right belongeth, . . . viz. to the Lord P. or V. P.
and Council attending the same and their servants then attend-
ing upon them in household, with the officers of the court [and
certain other persons].
XL. And forasmuch as it may chance the Lord P. [shall] be
sometimes diseased ... or shall be called to the parliament or
otherwise employed in his H ighness' affairs, . . . therefore to the
intent that the said Council may be and remain evermore full
and perfect, . . . his INIajesty's pleasure is that, when the Lord
P. shall be so diseased, absent or let, . . . that then he shall
appoint such meet person being of the Council as by him the
said Lord P. shall be thought meet during his absence, and his
Majesty during the said time doth give unto every such person
so to be appointed the name of Vice-President, and that so long
as he shall continue V. P. he shall have all such authority as the
Lord P. himself to all intents and purposes . . .
XLI. And forasmuch as the King's Majesty considering how
unmeet it is that his Highness' tenants and farmers should be
retained by wages, livery, . . . promise or otherwise, . . . there-
fore his Highness' express pleasure and commandment is that
none of his Majesty's said Council ... or any other person . . .
shall by any liveries, wages, . . . promise or otherwise retain or
entertain any of his Majesty's tenants or farmers in any sort
whereby he shall account himself bound to do unto him or
under him other than as to one of his Majesty's said Council or
his Highness' officer in that behalf (if any so be) in any manner
1617.] Council of Wales. 387
of service : and further his like pleasure is, that the Lord P.
[«fec.] shall in every of their pi'iucipal sittings give a special
charge that none, either noblemen or gentlemen or other,
presume to retain any of his Majesty's tenants, charging all liis
Majesty's tenants upon pain of his Majesty's displeasure in no
wise to agree to any such retainer with any man, but only to
depend upon his Highness and upon such as his Majesty shall
appoint to be his officers in that behalf.
XLII. [General order to sheriffs &c. to aid the Council.]
XLIII. And to the end that the said Lord P. [&c.] may
proceed to the administration of justice as well in all causes
concerning his Majesty or the good and quiet government of
his Majesty's subjects ... as likewise to give convenient relief
to all suitors, plaintiffs and defendants, . . . and that the said
suitors or any others whom the said Lord P. [&c.] shall by his
Highness' process call before them may quietly have access to
the said President [&c.] . . . without any impeachment or
molestation by arrest, . . . (which pi-ivileges are [so] incident
to his Majesty's high courts of justice at Westminster that
without the same in many cases they cannot administer his
Highness' laws) . . .; therefore his Majesty's will and pleasure is
that all his subjects, as well in making their repair to the said
P. [&c.] as likewise during the time of their necessary abode to
stay about the same and in their return home again, shall be
privileged and discharged from all arrests by any process or
warrant granted or sued out or from any corporation wherein
the said Council shall be then resident or being.
XLIV, [Council to act with diligence.]
XLV. And the King's Majesty's further pleasui'e is, that the
Lord P. [&c.] . . . shall minister as well the oath of supremacy
as the oath hereafter mentioned^ unto every of the said
Council whensoever they shall be preferred thereunto . . .
XLVI. And forasmuch as it is convenient that as well all
inferior officers and attendants ... as other superiors may be
obedient to the laws of the realm concerning the service of God
and the profession of the true Christian religion established in
the realm, the Lord P. [&c.] shall take order that no person
. . . shall continue in or exercise any office there except they
* This oath nearly resembles that of a Privy Councillor (see above, p 165).
C C 2
388 James I. [leis.
shall willingly take such oath as is before appointed, and shall
also orderly resort to the church and divine service and receive
the communion according to the laws of the realm and the
injunctions ecclesiastical.
XLVII. [Proclamation of certain of the above instructions to
be made yearly.] liymer's Fvederu, vol. XVII. p. 28.
5. Jurisdiction or the Loed High Admiral and the
Court of Admiralty, 161 8.
De concessione officii Admiralli Georgio Marchioni Bucking-
hamiae ad vitam.
I. Rex omnibus ad quos etc. salutem. Sciatis quod nos . . . de
gratia nostra sjieciali et ex certa scientia et mero motu nostris
dedimus ac concessimus . . . Georgio Marchioni Buck, officium
Magni Admiralli nostri Angliae, Hiberniae, Walliae ac domi-
niorum et insularum eorumdem, villae Calesiae et marchiarum
ejusdem, Normanniae, Gascoigniae et Aqnitaniae, ac ipsum
Georgium Marchionem Buck. Magnum Admii-allum nostrum . . .
necnou Praefectum Geneialem classium et marium dictorum
regnorum nostrorum Angliae et Hiberniae ac dominiorum et
infcularum eorumdem fecinius . . .
II. Et ulterius sciatis quod nos . . . damus et concedimus eidem
G. M. B. [&c.] omnes jurisdictiones . . . emolumenta . . . et privi-
legia quaecunque eidem officio . . . pertinentia . . . ; necnon
tam bona et catalla quorumcunque proditorum, piratarum,
hotnicidarum et felonum qualitercunque infra jurisdictionem
ncstram Admiralitatis praedictae delinquentium, quam bona
[&c.] eorum . . . accessariorum [&c.] ; atque etiam [the goods,
&c. of suicides and certain other offenders]; necnon bona
waivata, flotson, jetson, lagon et shares, ac thesaurum in-
ventum, deodanda ac bona pro derelicto habita . . . ; necnon
omnia bona . . . deperdita in mare inventa seu extra mare
projecta . . . ; ac etiam anchoragia, beconagia seu signa per
mare vel portus seu publica flumina [&c.] erecta; et lasta-
gium seu arenosam navium ouerationem ; atque pisces regales,
videlicet sturgiones [&c.] ; et insuper omnes fines . . . foris-
facturas et poenas pecuuiarias pro transgressionibus . . . im-
pcsitas . . . coram dicto Magno Admirallo Angliae seu aliquo
1618.] Jurisdiction of the Admiralty. 389
ejus locumtenente . . . : habendum et exercendum dictum
officium . . . praefato G. M. B. pro termino vitae naturalis . . .
III. Et insuper . . . concedimus praefato G. M. B. [&c.] . . .
quandam annuitatem . . . ducentarum marcarum legalis monetae
Angliae . . . pro termino vitae dicti Marchionis . . .
IV. Et praeterea . . . concedimus praefato G.M. B. [&c.] i:)lenam
jurisdictionem et auctoritatem audiendi, examinandi et termi-
nandi quascunque causas civiles et maritimas, atque querelas,
contractus, delicta seu ([uasi-delicta, crimina, placita, debita,
excambia, assecurationes, computa, literas partitas, conventiones,
chirographia, onerationes navium omniaque negotia et contractus
quae nautas pro navibus conductis et locatis . . . quovismodo
tangunt . . . , lites, transgressiones, injurias et extortiones, et
negotia civilia et maritima quaecunque inter mercatores et
inter dominos et proprietaries navium . . . infra jurisdictionem
nosti'am maritimam Admiralitatis . . . Iiabita sive contracta pro
aliqua re . . . vel negotio seu injuria quacunque, in super vel per
mare aut flumina publica seu aquas dulces, rivos seu crecos
et loca superinundata quaecunque, inter fluxum et refluxum
maris et aquae ad plenitudinem, vel super littora seu ripas . . .
adjacentes, a quibuscunque primis pontibus versus mare, per
dicta regna nostra . . . vel alibi ultra mare aut in partibus
ultramarinis . . .
V. Atque insuper causas appellationum et militarium quere-
larura ex causis praedictis a quibuscunque judicibus . . . seu
ialiis officiariis et ministris nostris ... ad curiam principalem
Admiralitatis Angliae praedictae interpositis . . . , juxta leges
nostras civiles et maritimas et consuetudines praedictae curiae
... in eadem curia audiendi et terminandi . . . ; necnon querelas
omnium contractuum . . . ultra mare perficiendorum seu ultra
mare contractorum et in hoc regno nostro . . . periraplendorum
. . . : ac etiara cognitionem caeterorum omnium quae ad officium
Magni Admiralli Angliae [&c.] . . . ab antiquo pertinere de-
buerunt : et generaliter ad cognoscendum et procedendum in
omnibus aliis causis, litibus, criminibus . . . et negotiis maritimis
. . . infra jurisdictionem nostram maritimam Admiralitatis . . . ,
una cum postestate recognitiones . . . capiendi, . . . necnon
naves, personas, res . . . et mercimonia . . . arestandi . . . et
mandandi, ipsasque et ipsa, . . . juxta leges et consuetudines
390 James I. [leis.
praeclictas aliisque vils [&c.] quibus dictus Magnus Admirallus
l&c] melius sciverit aut poterit, audieiuli, examinandi, dis-
cutiendi ac fine debito terminandi . . .
VI. Necnon ad inquirendum per sacranientum proborum et
legalium hominum . . . de omnibus quae de jure statutis, ordi-
uationibus vel conf^uetudinibus curiae nostrae principalis
Admiralitatis ab antique in^juiri solent vel debcnt ; reosque . . .
uaucleros, marinarios . . . et alios ... res nauticas quascunque
exercentes . . . mulctandum, corrigendum . . . ac . . . incarcer-
andum . . . : fluniinafjue nostra publica, portus [&c.] infra
juiisdictiouem nostrani maritimam . . . pro f ouFervatioi.e tam
classis nosti'ae . , . quam piscium in eisdem fiuminibus [&c.]
crescentium\ ordinatioues et statuta quaecunque in ea parte
edita debite couservandum, . . . subconservatoiesque deputandum
. . . : necnon ad retia nimis stricta et alia ii.genia sive iufctru-
menta illicita . . . tt exercilatores et occupatores eorumdem . . .
corrigendum et reformandum.
VII. Atque insupertam naves quam naviculas guerrinasquam
quascunque alias naves et naviculas seu vasa quaecunque, pro
quibuscuuque viagiis et negotiis nostris . . . , necnon navigeros,
iiautas seu pilotas . . . et alias personas quascunque pro navibus
[&c.] idoneos . . . quoties necesse fuerit . . . congregandum, deli-
gendum . . . et assignandum . . . , prout Magno Admiiallo nostro
[&c.] de tempore in tempus magis expediens visum fuerit.
VIII. Concessimus praeterea . . . Magno Admirallo nostro [&c.]
. . . potestatera, quoties opus et necesse fuerit, ad nominaudum . . .
et coustituendum locumtenentes . . . ac omues officiarios, minis-
tros sub se uecessarios . . . ; Statutaque et ordinationes quas-
cunque in officio Admiralitatis j^raedictae statuendum . . . ac ea
quae fueriut repellenda repelleudum ; Necnon huju&modi oflS-
ciarios [&c.] . . . amovere ac alios . . . substituere.
IX. [General clause empowering the Lord High Admiral and
Ills deputies to proceed and give sentence &c. in the cases above-
mentioned within the limits above-mentioned.]
X. Volunius etiam . . . quod praefatus G. M. B. . . . et ejus . . .
ministri 1 abea^t cognitionem et decisionem de wrecco maris
magno seu parvo, ac de moite submersioue, et visu corporum
mortuoium quorumcunque persouarum in mare vel fiuminibus
^ Some words, such as ' supervidendum, et/ seem to be here omitted.
1603.] Admiralty: Coronation Oath. 391
publicis [&c.] submersarum . . . aut aliquo alio modo ibidem ad
mortem deveuieutium : necnon . . . conservationem statutorum ^
nostrorum de wrecco maris et de officio coronatoris annis tertio
et quarto Edwardi Primi, atque statutorum - de bonis spoliatis
super mare venientibus in hoc regnum nostrum Angliae anno
vicesimo septimo Edwardi Tertii . . . editorum, atque cognitio-
nem de mahemio in locis praedictis, . . . cum potestate etiam
puniendi deliiiquentes in ea parte quoscunque juxta juris exi-
gentiam et curiae nostrae Admiralitatis . . . consuetudines.
XI. Eo quod expressa mentio de vero valore annuo vel certitu-
dine praemissorum . . . miuime facta existit, atque aliquo statute,
actu . . . sive restrictione praesentibus Uteris patentibus . . .
repugnantibus . . . non obstante.
XII. Mandantes . . . universis proceribus, dominis, justitiariis
. . . ac caeteris ministris et fidelibus nostris . . . quod praefato
Marchioni Buck. . . . circa executionem praemissorum inten-
dentes . . . et obedientes sint, . . , sub poena cuntemptus istarum
literarum patentium et sub periculo incumbente.
Apud Westmonasterium vicesimo octavo die Junii.
Mtjmers FoRclera, vol. XVII. p. 124.
v.— MISCELLANEOUS.
1. The King's Coronation Oath.
Juramentum Regis Jacobi, 1603.
Archbishop. Sir, will you grant and keep and by your oath
confirm to your people of England the laws and customs to
them granted by the kings of England your lawful and religious
predecessors ; and namely the laws, customs and franchises
granted to the clergy and to the people by the glorious king,
St Edward, your predecessor, according and conformable to the
laws of God and true profession of the gospel established in this
kingdom, and agreeing to the prerogatives of the kings thereof
and to the ancient customs of this realm?
King. I grant and promise to keep them.
» Officium Coronatoris (4 Ed. I). ^ 27 Ed. Ill (2). 2, 13.
392 James I. [i604.
A. Will you keep peace and agreement entirely, according to
your power, both to God, the holy church, the clergy and the
people ]
K. I will keep it.
A. Will you to your power cause law, justice and discretion
in mercy and truth to be executed in all your judgments %
K. I will.
A. Sir, will you grant to hold and keep the laws and rightful
customs which the commonalty of your kingdom have, and to
defend and uphold them to the honour of God, so much as in
you lieth ]
K. I grant and promise so to do.
Sequitur admonitio episcoporum, «&:c.
Our lord and king, we beseech you to gx'ant and preserve
unto us and every one of us and the churches committed to our
charge all canonical privileges and due law and justice, and
that you would protect and defend us as every good king in his
kingdom ought to be a protector and defender of the bishops
and churches under their government.
K. With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant
that I will preserve and maintain to you and everj^ of you
and the churches committed to your charge all canonical
privileges and due law and justice, and that I will be your
protector and defender to my power by the assistance of God,
as every good king in his kingdom ought to protect and defend
the bishops and churches under their government.
Tanner MSS. {Bodl.), vol. 94, f. 121.
2. Proclamation of the Union of England and
Scotland, 1604.
As often as we call to mind the most joyful and just recog-
nition made by the whole body of our realm in the first session
of our high court of parliament of that blessing which it hath
pleased God to reserve many years of his providence to our
person and now in the fullness of the time of his disposition to
bestow upon us, namely the blessed union or rather re-uniting
of these two mighty, famous and ancient kingdoms of England
1604.] Union : regal style. 393
and Scotland under one imperial crown, so often do we think
that it is our duty to do our utmost endeavour for the advance-
ment and perfection of that work which is of his beginning and
whereof he hath given so many palpable signs and arguments
as he that seeth them not is blind, and he that impugneth them
doth but endeavour to separate that which God hath put
together . . . All which being matters prepared only by the
providence of Almighty God and which by human industry
could not have been so ordered, we and all our subjects ought
first with reverence to acknoAvledge his handiwork therein and
to give him our most humble thanks for the same, and then to
further by our endeavours that which his wisdom doth by so
many signs point out to be his will ; whereof many particularities
depending upon the determinations of the states and parliaments
of both lealms, we leave them there to be discussed according
to the commissions granted by the several Acts of both par-
liaments, and, some other things resting in our own imperial
power as the head of both, we are purposed towards the build-
ing of this excellent work to do by ourself that which justly and
safely we may by our absolute power do . . .
Wherefore we have thought good to discontinue the divided
names of England and Scotland out of our regal style, and do
intend and resolve to take and assume unto us in manner
and form hereafter expressed the name and style of King of
Great Britain, . . . not that we covet any new affected name
devised at our pleasure but out of undoubted knowledge do use
the true and ancient name which God and time have imposed
upon this isle . . .
Upon all which considerations we do by these presents by
force of our kingly power and prerogative assume to ourself
by the clearness of our right the name and style of King of Great
Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., as
followeth in our just and lawful title, and do hereby publish,
promulgate and declare the same, to the end that in all our
proclamations . . . and in all other causes of like nature the
same may be used and observed . . .
[Dated 20 October, 1604.]
Rymers Foedera, vol. XVI. p. 603.
394 James I. [1622.
3. Censorship of the Press.
I. Proclamation, 1622.
A proclamation against the disorderly printing, uttering and
dispersing of books, pamphlets, &c.
AV^hereas the 23rd day of June, in the 28th year of the reign
of our late dear sister Queen Elizabeth, for the repressing of
sundry intolerable offences . . . occasioned by the disorderly
printing and selling of books, a decree ^ was made in the High
Court of Star Chamber containing many just and provident
ordinances for preventing of those inconveniences, . . . the true
intent and meaning of which said decree hath been cautelously
abused and eluded . . . : We, willing not only to tread in the
steps of our said dear sister but to add such further strength
as shall be meet to those provident and good orders made in
her time, have thought fit to publish and declare unto all our
subjects, that it is our express will and commandment that the
said decree be from henceforth strictly observed and put in
execution ; and . . . we do straitly prohibit and forbid that no
person whatsoever ... do at any time hereafter, either within
our own dominions or without, imprint or bring in ... or dis-
perse any seditious, schismatical or other scandalous books or
pamphlets whatsoever, or any other books (though lawful or
allowed to be printed by such to whom the printing thereof
doth belong) which shall be printed contrary to the true intent
of the said decree, or shall be printed out of this realm of pur-
pose to avoid the said decree or any prohibition or restraint
contained in any letters patents, privilege or lawful ordinance,
upon pain of our indignation and heavy displeasure, and of the
pains, punishments and imprisonments contained in the said
decree, and such further censures as by our court of Star Chamber
and High Commission respectively shall be thought meet to
be inflicted on them for such their offences.
And we do straitly charge the master and keepers or
wardens of the mystery or art of stationers of the city of
London . . . that they from time to time ... do make careful
and diligent search for all such scandalous and offensive books
or pamphlets as are imported into this realm or here imprinted
* See above, p. 169.
1624.] Censorship of the Press. 395
contrary to this our royal commandment, and seize the same,
and do their uttermost endeavours as well for suppressing
thereof as for bringing the offenders unto justice . . .
[Dated 25 Sept. 1622.]
Rymers Fcedera, vol. XVII. p. 522.
2. Proclamation, 1624.
A proclamation against seditious, popish and puritanical books
or pamphlets.
For that the printing, importing and dispersing of popish
and seditious books and pamphlets and seditious puritanical
books and pamphlets ... is grown so common and practised so
licentiously, both to the ti'aducing of religion and the state, as
that great inconveniences may grow thereby if they be not pre-
vented and punished ; therefore we do straitly charge and
command that from henceforth no person or persons whatsoever
presume to print any book or pamphlet concerning matters of
religion, church goveinment or state within any our own
dominions, which shall not first be perused, cori'ected and
allowed under the hand of the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury,
tlie Lord Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, the Vice-
Chantellor of one of the LTniversities of Oxford or Cambridge
for the time being, or one of them, or some other learned person
or persons to that purpose appointed by them or one of them ;
and that no merchant or other person whatsoever from hence-
ibrth presume to import into this kingdom any such book or
pamphlet and offer the same to sale or otherwise dispose thereof,
before the same be first perused and allowed by the Lord
Archbishop of Canterbury [and others as before] . . . and that
no . . . person whatsoever shall from henceforth presume to sell
or offer to sell or otherwise disperse . . . any such book or
pamphlet not so perused and allowed, upon pain of our high
displeasure and such other severe punishment as by our laws
or by our prerogative royal may be inflicted upon them for such
their contempt.
And we do straitly charge and command all . . . our ofiicers
and ministers whatsoever and all other our loving subjects to
whom it shall appertain, and especially the master and wardens
39<5 Jcifnes I. [i624.
of the company of stationers of London, that from time to time
they do their utmost endeavours for the due observance of the
premisses, and for the discovery and searching out of all offences
and offenders against this our royal command.
[Dated] Nottingham, 15 August a. r. 22.
Rymer's Foedera, vol. XVII. p. 616.
4. Military System.
I. Appointment of a Council of War, 1624.
De Commissione Olivero Vicecomiti Grandison et aliis.
James by the grace of God, &c., to our right trusty and
riglit well-beloved cousin and councillor Oliver Viscount
Grandison, and to our right trusty and well-beloved councillors,
George Lord Carew, Master of our Ordnance, Fulke Lord
Brooke, Arthur Lord Chichester [and seven others], greeting.
Whereas we are now to take such ways and means as shall be
most requisite for securing our realm of Ireland with the rest
of our dominions and putting our navy royal in readiness, we
have thought good to nominate and appoint a council of war
for this purpose, and of the knowledge we have of your wisdom,
integrity and exj^erience in matters of this nature, we have
made special choice of you, and do hereby require and authorize
you or any six or more of you to assemble and meet together
from time to time, as there shall be cause, to call unto you such
persons of experience whose advice and oj^inion you shall find
cause to make use of, and to advise of such ways and means
as may further our aforesaid ends of assisting our allies,
specially the Low Countries, securing Ireland and the rest of
our dominions, and putting our navy in readiness and safety,
together with what else shall be recommended to you from us
for your advice towai ds the furtherance of our service ; and
upon mature deliberation of such things as shall fall into
debate with you, you are to set down in writing your opinions,
and make speedy representation to us of such things as shall
be fit for our knowledge, and likewise to offer unto our Privy
Council such propositions as may be meet for their considera-
tion or to be by them put in execution. And these our
1621.] Council of War: Impressment, &c. 397
letters shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge in this
behalf.
[Dated] Nonsuch, 20 July.
Burner s Foedera, vol. XVII. p, 615.
2. Impressment and Martial Law, 162 1.
James by the grace of God, &c,, to all justices of peace,
mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, constables, headboroughs and to all
other our officers, ministers and subjects to whom these presents
shall come, greeting. Forasmuch as we have appointed our
right trusty and right well-beloved cousin, Henry, Earl of
Oxford, to be for this time the admiral of certain of our ships
and pinnaces and of divers other ships and vessels of our subjects,
. . . and to the end he may be furnished of all manner of neces-
saries that shall be needful or shall thereunto appertain ; know
ye that we ... by these presents do give full power and
authority unto the said Henry, Earl of Oxford, and ' to his
sufficient deputy or deputies, wheresoever he shall have need,
to press and take up for our sexwice, for the furnishing of any
such ships or vessels as shall be under his charge in any place
upon our coasts of England or Ireland, any mariners, soldiers,
gunners or other needful artificers and workmen to be employed
in our service committed to his charge.
And further we do give full power and authority unto the
said Henry, Earl of Oxford, to receive and take into his charge
... all such our ships and all other ships as are by our com-
mandment appointed by our High Admiral of England to go
under his charge, with all their companies, ... to rule, command
and govern and to . . . punish as the greatness and quality of
the fault requireth : that is to say, as for any treason to us or
our ships or people in them, or for any wilful murder, or for
any notable mutiny, the same being truly and justly proved,
the said Henry, Earl of Oxford, shall have full power to execute
and take away their life or any member in form and order of
martial law, and for all other lesser offences to punish as in his
discretion he shall think best and as are commonly used in our
armies by sea and land . . .
[Dated] Westminster, December 4.
Rymefs Foedera, vol. XVII. p. 342.
39«^ James I. [1624.
3. Commission to execute Martial Law, 1624.
James by the grace of God [&c.] to our trusty and well-beloved
the mayor of Dover for the time being [and nine others.] ^
Wlieieas we are given to understand that of those troops and
companies of soldiers, which are now come together by our
commandment ... at Dover or the places thereabouts in the
county of Kent, to the end to be from thence transported into
parts beyond the seas with all convenient speed, that many of
them are so disordered and disobedient to their commanders as
that they presume to commit divers outrages and with such
violence as that the peace of our said county is much disturbed,
and many of our loving subjects put in fear of their lives and
have their houses and goods violently entered upon and taken ^
away by force : We therefore, . . . out of our gracious care to
prevent the said disorders and outrages by suppressing them in
their beginning before they go too far, have . . . appointed you
to be our commissioners, and do by these presents give unto you
or any three or more of you full power in all places within our
said county of Kent, as well within the Cinque Ports or any
other liberty as without, to proceed according to the justice of
martial law against such soldiers within any of our lists afore-
said and other dissolute persons joining with them as, during
such time as any of our said troops . . . shall remain there . . . ,
shall within any the places or precincts aforesaid at any time
after the publication of this our commission commit any rob-
beries, felonies, mutinies or other outrages or misdemeanours
which by the martial law ought to be punished with death ;
and by such summary course and order as is agreeable to mar-
tial ^ law and as is used in armies in time of war to proceed to
the trial and condemnation of such delinquents and offenders,
and them [to] cause to be executed and put to death according
to the law martial, for an example of terror to others . . . : to
which purpose our will and pleasure is that you cause to be
erected such gallows or gibbets and in such places as you shall
think fit, and thereupon to cause tlie said offenders to be
* Eight Knights and one Esquire. ^ < taking,' in the roll.
^ ' marshall,' in the roll : cp. above, p. 154.
1603- ] Martial Law: Prerogative. 399
executed in open view that others may take warning thereby
to demean themselves in such due oi'der and obedience as good
subjects ought to do ; straitly charging and commanding all
mayors . . . and other officers and all other our loving subjects
whatsoever, upon their allegiance to us and our crown, to be
aiding you and such three or more of you as aforesaid in the
due execution of this our royal commandment. And these
presents shall be unto you a sufficient warrant and discharge
for the doing and executing ... all such things as any three
or more of you as aforesaid shall find requisite to be done con-
cerning the premisses.
At Westminster, the thirtieth day of December.
Pat. Roll, 22 Jac. I, part 4.
VI.— EXTRACTS FROM POLITICAL
WRITERS.
1. James I.
I. Prerogative and the Judges.
. . . Now having spoken of your office in general, I am next
to come to the limits wherein you are to bound yourselves,
which likewise are three. First, encroach not upon the pre-
rogative of the crown : if there falls out a question that concerns
my prerogative or mystery of state, deal not with it, till you'
consult with the king or his council, or both ; for they are
transcendent matters . . . That which concerns the mystery of
the king's power is not lawful to be disputed ; for that is to
wade into the weakness of princes, and to take away the
mystical reverence that belongs unto them that sit in the
throne of God.
Secondly, that you keep yourselves within your own benches,
not to invade other jurisdictions, which is unfit and an unlawful
thing . . . Keep you therefore all in your own bounds, and for
my part, I desire you to give me no more right, in my private
prerogative, than you give to any subject, and therein I will be
acquiescent : as for the absolute prerogative of the crown, that
40O James I. [1603-
is no subject for the tongue of a lawyer, nor is lawful to be
disputed.
/ It is atheism and blasphemy to dispute what God can do :
good Christians content themselves with his will revealed in his
word, so it is presumption and high contempt in a subject to
dispute what a king can do, or say that a king cannot do this
or that ; but rest in that which is the king's revealed will in
his law.
A speech in the Star-Chamher on 20 June, 1616 {TForks of James I.
ed. 1616, p. 556).
2. Prerogative and Parliament.
According to these fundamental laws already alleged, we daily
see that in the parliament (which is nothing else but the head
court of the king and his vassals) the laws are but craved by
his subjects, and only made by him at their rogation and with
their advice : for albeit the king make daily statutes and
ordinances, enjoining such pains thereto as he thinks meet,
without any advice of i:)arliament or estates, yet^ it lies in the
power of no parliament to make any kind of law or statute,
without his sceptre be to it, for giving it the force of a law . . .
And as ye see it manifest that the king is over-lord of the
whole land, so is he master over every person that inhabiteth
the same, having power over the life and death of every one of
them : for although a just prince will not take the life of any
of his subjects without a clear law, yet the same laws whereby
he taketh them are made by himself or his predecessors ; and
so the power flows always from himself ; as by daily experience
we see good and just princes Avill from time to time make new
laws and statutes, adjoining the penalties to the breakers thereof,
which before the law was made had been no crime to the
subject to have committed . . . And where he sees the law
doubtsome or rigorous, he may interpret or mitigate the same,
lest otherwise summum jus be summa injuria : and therefore
general laws made publicly in parliament may upon known
i-espects to the king by his authority be mitigated and suspended
upon causes only known to him.
As likewise, although I have said a good king will frame all
1603-.] The Star-Chamber. 401
his actions to be according to the law, yet is he not bound
thereto but of his good will, and for good example-giving to his
subjects ... So as I have already said, a good king, though he
be above the law, will subject and frame his actions thereto, ^._>W
for example's sake to his subjects, and of his own free will, but ■
not as subject or bound thereto . . .
True Laio of Free Monarchies {Worlcs of James I, p. 202). --h^
2. Chief Justice Coke.
I. The honourable court of Star-Chamber, coram Rege et Con-
cilio suo : of ancient time, coram Rege in camera, &c.
Id the 28th year of the reign of Edward III it appeareth
that the returns coram nobis are in three manners : coram
nobis in camera (which it is said was afterwards called Camera
Stellata) ; coram nobis ubicunque fuerimus in Anglia, which
is the King's Bench ; and coram nobis in cancellaria. And
of all the high and honourable courts of justice, this ought to
be kept within his proper bounds and jurisdiction . . . [Here
follow notes of various cases in which the jurisdiction of the
Council or the Star-Chamber is mentioned, in the reigns of Ed-
ward III, Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III and Henry VII.]
. . . This court in ancient times sat but rarely, for three
causes. First, for that enormous and exorbitant causes which
this court dealt withal only in those days rarely fell out.
Secondly, this court dealt not with such causes as other courts
of ordinary justice might condignly punish, ne dignitas hujus
curiae vilesceret. Thirdly, it very rarely did sit lest it should
draw the king's Privy Council from matters of state pro bono
2)ublico to hear private causes, and the principal judges from
their ordinary courts of justice.
That which now is next to be considered in serie temporis is
the statute of 3 H. VII . . .
Upon this statute and that which formerly has been said,
these six conclusions do follow. The first conclusion is, that
this Act of 3 H. VII did not raise a new court ; for there was
a court of Star-Chamber and all the king's Privy Council judges
of the same . . .
The second conclusion is, that the Act of 3 H. VII being in the
Dd
4oa James 7. [ieo3-.
affirmative is not in some things pursued . . . ; and it is a good
rule that, where the Act of 3 H. VII is not pursued, there . . .
they must have warrant from the ancient court . . .
Thirdly, that this Act being (as hath been said) in the
affirmative, and enumerating divers particular offences, albeit
' injuries ' is a large word, yet that court hath jurisdiction of
many other, as is manifest by authority and daily experience,
and this must of necessity be in respect of the former juris-
diction.
Fourthly, this Act in one point is introductory of a new law,
which the former court had not, viz. to examine the defendant
. . . upon oath upon intei'rogatories.
Fifthly, where it is said in this Act, ' and to punish them
after their demerits after the form and effect of statutes made,
&c.' the plaintiff may choose whether he will inform upon such
statutes as this Act directeth, or for the offence at the common
law, as he might have done before this Act ; which proveth that
this Act taketh not away the former jurisdiction.
Lastly, that the jurisdiction of the court dealeth not with any
offence that is not malum in se, against the common law, or
malum jyrohibitum, against some statute . . .
Divers special Acts of Parliament have given also jurisdiction
to thiscouit, viz. 12 E. II, cap. 11 ; 2 R. II, cap. 5 [?] ; 13 H. IV,
cap. 7 ; 33 H, VIII, cap. i ; 4 & 5 Ph. & Mar. cap. 8 : 5 Eliz.
cap. 9, 10&14: 27 Eliz. cap. 4.
And seeing the proceeding according to the laws and customs
of this realm cannot by one rule of law suffice to punish in every
case the exorbitancy and enormity of some great horrible
crimes and offences, and especially of great men, this court
dealeth with them, to the end that the medicine may be accord-
ing to the disease, and the punishment according to the offence,
ut poena ad 2)aucos, meius ad omnes perveniat, without respect
of persons, be they public or private, great or small . . .
The proceeding in this court is by bill of information, by
examination of the defendant upon interrogatories, and by
examination of witnesses, and rarely ore tenus, upon the con-
fession of the party in writing under his hand, which he again
must freely confess in open court, upon which confession in
open court the court doth proceed. But if hig confession be set
1603-.] The Star- Chamber. 403
down too short or otherwise than he meant, he may deny it,
and then they cannot proceed against him but by bill of
information, which is the fairest way . . .
It is the most honourable court (our Parliament excepted)
that is in the Christian world, both in respect of the judges of
the court, and of their honourable proceeding according to their
just jurisdiction and the ancient and just orders of the court.
For the judges of the same are (as you have heard) the
grandees of the realm, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer,
the Lord President of the King's Council, the Lord Privy Seal,
all the lords spiritual, temporal and others of the King's most
honourable Privy Council, and the principal judges of the
realm, and such other lords of Parliament as the King shall
name . . . And the court cannot sit for hearing of causes under
the number of eight at the least . . . This court, the right
institution and ancient orders thereof being observed, doth keep
all England in quiet.
So this court being holden coram Rege el Concilio, it is or
may be compounded of three several councils : that is to say, ( i )
of the lords and others of his Majesty's Privy Council, always
judges without appointment, as before it appeareth. (2) The
judges of either bench and barons of the exchequer are of the
King's Council for matter of law, &c., and the two chief justices
or, in their absence, other two justices are standing judges of
this court. (3) The lords of Parliament are properly de Magno
Concilio Regis, but neither these, being not of the King's Privy
Council, nor any of the rest of the judges or barons of the
Exchequer are standing judges of this court.
It is now and of ancient time hath been called the Chamber
of the Stars, the Star-Chamber, the starred chamber, in respect
the roof of the court is garnished with golden stars . . . Lastly,
it remaineth to be seen what jurisdiction this court hath in
punishment, and where and in what cases this court may inflict
punishment by pillory, papers, whipping, loss of ears, tacking
of ears, stigmata in the face, &c. (For it extendeth not to any
offence that concerns the life of man or obtruncation of any
member, the ears only excepted, and those rarely and in most
heinous and detestable offences) . . . Institutes, Part IV. cap. 5.
D d 2
404 James I. [1603-.
2. Of the High Commission in Causes Ecclesiastical.
Two questions have been made concerning the jurisdiction of
these commissioners :
First, what causes do belong to the High Commissioners by
force of the Act of i Elizabeth, Cap. I. and of the letters
patents thereupon grounded 1
Secondly, in what cases the High Commissioners, by the said
Act of I Eliz. Cap. I. and the letters patents to them granted,
may impose fine and imprisonment, and in what not . . .
First, the title of the Act is ' An Act restoring to the crown
the ancient jurisdiction,' &c. By this the nature of the Act
doth appear to be an Act of restitution. And this is also
manifest by the preamble of the Act . . .
The first clause of the body of the Act (to let in the restitu-
tion of the ancient right and jurisdiction ecclesiastical within
the realm) doth abolish all foreign jurisdiction out of the realm.
Then followeth the principal clause of restitution and uniting
of the ancient jurisdiction ecclesiastical, being the main purpose
of the Act [the first part of § 8 is recited]. And upon this
clause, being the final intention of this Act expressed in the
title and preamble, do the subsequent clauses depend: therefore
this clause is especially to be considered, and therein these
thiugs are to be observed : . . . that no jurisdiction is by this Act
restored and united to the crown but such as before the Act
had been or lawfully might be exercised or used for the
reformation, correction, &c. WhereuiJon it is concluded that,
seeing that no man could be fined or imprisoned by force of
any jurisdiction ecclesiastical which had been used or lawfully
might be used before this Act, that therefore by this Act no
power of fining and imprisoning in ecclesiastical causes is
given . . .
The jurisdiction being restored to Queen Elizabeth, her
heirs and successors, next and immediately doth the Act give
her power to assign and authorize commissioners to execute this
jurisdiction restored and united to her, for which purpose it is
further enacted [part of § 8, ' And that your Highness . . .
restrained or amended,' is recited.] By this clause there is no
question but the commissioners for such causes as are com-
1603-.] The High Commission. 405
mitted to tliem by force of this Act may, if the commissioners
be competent, proceed to deprivation of the Popish clergy,
(which was the main object of the Act), or to punish them by
ecclesiastical censures, and by no words or meaning hitherto
can punish by fine or imprisonment, for that no ecclesiastical
power could reform and correct (as the statute speaketh) in
that manner. And without question, if the commissioners be
competent, that is, if they be spiritual men, they may proceed
to sentence of excommunication, . . . and upon certificate made
of the excommunication according to law, a Signijicavit or Cap.
excom. shall be awarded out of the chancery for the taking and
imjDrisoning of the bodies of such excommunicate persons.
Now after the letters patents of the commission are described
and limited, followeth a clause of direction for the commissioneis
to keep themselves w^ithin their commission in these words
[the conclusion of § 8, ' And that such persons . . . notwith-
standing,' recited.] This is a clause of reference merely to the
former parts of the Act, and yet by colour of this clause the
High Commissioners do pretend to fine and imprison, That
this clause referreth wholly to the former parts of the Act, it is
apparent by the very words thereof . . . And by the authority
that is claimed bj^ the commissioners, who seeth not but that
confiscation of lands, forfeiture of goods and chattels, &c., as
well may be imposed as fine and imprisonment 1 And were it
not a violent interpretation, directly against the letter and
meaning of the Act and full of great inconvenience, to make of
these latter words this construction, viz, that the High Com-
missioners should correct and punish all the errors, heresies,
schisms, offences, abuses, contempts and enormities, &c., under
such pains, forfeiture and penalty as Queen Elizabeth, her heirs
and successors by any letters patents should impose or appoint ;
and that consequently by force of the generality of this con-
struction, she did impose and appoint fine and imprisonment 1
Which construction should be first directly against the words
and meaning of the Act for the causes aforesaid. Secondly, by
the same reason, by the generality of such a construction,
Queen Elizabeth might have imposed forfeiture of lands,
confiscation of goods, nay, corporal punishment, loss of member
and of life also, for incontinency, solicitation of chastitv,
4o6 James 1. [1603-.
working on a holiday or any inferior offence punishable by the
ecclesiastical law, and yet the sentence of the commissioners in
such cases should be both fatal and final . . . Thirdly, that this
violent construction, under mystical and cloudy words, should
extend to fine and imprisonment, &c. [of] all persons, as well
laymen ... as to ecclesiastical persons, who were the proper
objects of this Act . . . : than which nothing could be more absurd
and inconvenient . . .
And seeing it hath been granted that the papal authority or
any other having ecclesiastical jurisdiction could not fine and
imprison before this Act of i Elizabeth, ... it followeth
a concessis and by the letter of this Act that it was never the
meaning of the makers thereof to extend the said clause to fine
and imprison the subject for ecclesiastical causes, and to make
him subject to greater confiscations, forfeitures and punish-
ments, where his body before this Act was not subject to
imprisonment but upon the King's writ De excom. cajnendo, nor
his body, lands and goods to fines or other penalties or punish-
ments, by them to be imposed . . . We must therefore retire
ourselves to the text of the Act of i Eliz., the only ground of
this question, and thereupon the conclusion is that no letters
patents can by \drtue of this Act of i Eliz. give any power to
the commissioners to imprison, except it be in certain particular
cases, which now fall into consideration. For example ^ the
statute of I H. VII, cap. 4. doth give power to bishoj)s, &c. to
commit priests convicted of any incontinency to prison . . .
If the High Commissioners might have fined and imprisoned
men for offences against the ecclesiastical laws, to what end
were the statutes'^ of 23 Eliz., 28 Eliz. &c., made against men
for abstaining and not coming to divine service, &c., and why
did those Acts inflict a penalty of £20 the month and imprison-
ment, &c., with a discharge of the penalty, &c. upon submission,
if the High Commissioners might have fined and imprisoned
them absolutely without certainty of any sum or limitation of
any time of imprisonment, and without any ability or power by
submission or conformity to ease themselves ? . . .
^ This is the only example of such exceptional legislation given by
Coke.
2 The allusion is to 23 Eliz. i. § 5, and 29 Eliz. 6. § i, &c.
1603-.] The High Commission. 4oy
And concerning the form of commissions and practice by the
High Commissioners in the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth
by fining and imprisoning for adultery, fornication, simony,
usury, defamation, &c., it may be that such fines have been
imposed, but, as we be informed, not one of them levied in all
the reign of Queen Elizabeth by any judicial process out of the
exchequer , . .
In Atmere's case the whole court of Exchequer in the last
Queen's reign judicially resolved, being the King's proper court,
that the High Commissioners could not punish any man for
working on a holiday, albeit it be a matter of ecclesiastical
cognisance, but [that he] ought by the true meaning of the
statute of I Eliz. to be punished by the diocesan . . .
And concerning fine and imprisonment, anno 9 Reginae
Eliz. . . . Thomas Lee, an attorney of the Common Pleas, being
convented before the High Commissioners for hearing of a mass,
was by them in their proceedings committed to prison, which
matter being returned by Habeas Corpus, he was upon great
consideration had by the Lord Dier and the whole Court of
Common Pleas discharged of his imprisonment, for that the
High Commission had no power to imprison him in that
case . . .
And we will conclude with the confession of the Lord Arch-
bishop Bancroft himself in his 22nd Article, his own words
being : ' Of latter days whereas certain lewd persons (two for
example's sake), one for notorious adultery and other untolerable
contempts, and another for abusing of a bishop of this kingdom
by threatening speeches and sundry railing terms, no way to be
endured, were thereupon fined and imprisoned by the High
Commissioners till they should enter into bonds to perform
further orders of the said court, the one was delivered by
Habeas Corpus out of the King's Bench, and the other by
a like writ out of the Common Pleas ; and sundry other pro-
hibitions have been likewise awarded to his Majesty's said
Commissioners upon these suggestions, that they had no
authority to fine or imprison any man.
Institutes, Part IV. cap. 74.
4o8 James I. [1603-.
3. Lord Bacon.
I. The Star-Chamber.
First, the authority of the Star-Chamber, which before
subsisted by the ancient common laws of the reahn, was con-
firmed in certain cases by Act of Parliament. This court is
one of the sagest and noblest institutions of this kingdom. For
in the distribution of courts of ordinary justice, besides the high
court of parliament, in which distribution the King's Bench
holdeth the pleas of the crown, the common-place pleas civil,
the exchequer pleas concerning the King's revenue, and the
cliancery the pretorian power for mitigating the rigour of law,
in case of extremity, by the conscience of a good man ; there
was nevertheless always reserved a high and pre-eminent power
to the King's Council, in causes that might in example or
consequence concern the state of the commonwealth ; which if
they were criminal, the Council used to sit in the chamber
called the Star-Chamber ; if civil, in the White-Chamber or
White-Hall. And as the chancery had the pretorian power for
equity, so the Star-Chamber had the censorian power for
offences under the degree of capital. This court of Star-
Chamber is compounded of good elements, for it consisteth of
four kinds of joersons, councillors, peers, prelates, and chief
judges. It discerneth also principally of four kinds of causes,
forces, frauds, crimes various of stellionate, and the inchoations
or middle acts towards crimes capital or heinous, not actually
committed or perpetrated. But that which was principally
aimed at by this Act was force, and the two chief supports of
force, combination of multitudes, and maintenance or headship
of great persons.
Hisiory of the Reign of Henry VII, ed. 1641, p. 63.
2. The Crown and the Judges.
Judges ought above all to remember the conclusion of the
Koman Twelve Tables, salus jw^mli suprema lex ^ ; and to
know that laws, except they be in order to that end, are but
' This is not from the Twelve Tables, but fiom Cicero, De Legihus,
III. 3-
1603-.] The Judges: The Prerogative, &c. 409
things captious, and oracles not well inspired. Therefore it is
a happy thing in a State wlien Kings and States do often
consult with judges; and again, when judges do often consult
with the King and State : the one, when there is matter of law
intervenient in business of state ; the other, when there is some
consideration of state intervenient in matter of law ; for many
times, the things deduced to judgment may be meum and
iuum, when the reason and consequence thereof may trench to
point of estate . . . Let judges also remember, that, Solomon's
throne was supported by lions on both sides ; let them be lions,
but yet lions under the throne, being circumspect, that they do
not check or oppose any points of sovereignty.
Essat/s ; ' Of Judicature.^
4. Sir Walter Ealeigh.
The Prero'jative.
All binding of a King by law upon the advantage of his
necessity makes the breach itself lawful in a King, his charters
and all other instruments being no other than the surviving
witnesses of unconstrained will. Princeps non subjicitur nisi
sua voluntate libera, mero motu et certa scientia — necessary
words in all the grants of a King witnessing that the same
grants were given freely and knowingly.
Prerogative of Parliament (Preface).
5. Db. Cov7ell\
King ... He is above the law by his absolute power (Bracton,
I. 8) ^ ; and though for the better and equal course in making
laws he do admit the three estates, that is. Lords Si:)iritual,
' On 27 Feb., 1610, the House of Commons took notice of this book,
published in 1607 by Dr Cowell, Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge;
and on March 2, in a conference with the Lords, specified the articles,
King, Parliament, Prerogative, and Subsidy, as specially objectionable
(^Commons' Journals). The King, in his message to Parliament (^ March 8)
said, ' that it was dangerous to submit the power of a king to definition ;
but withal he did acknowledge that he had no power to make laws of him-
self, or to exact any subsidies dejure without the consent of his three
estates.' Parliamentari/ Debates in 1610 (Camden Society), p. 24.
^ Bracton, on the contraiy, says (1. c.) : ' Ipse autem rex non debet esse
sub honiine sed sub deo et sub lege, quia lex facit regem . . . : non est enim
rex ubi dominatur voluntas et nou lex.'
41 o James I. [ieo3-.
Lords Temporal, and the Commons unto council, yet this, in
divers learned men's opinions, is not of constraint, but of his
own benignity or by reason of his promise made upon oath at
the time of his coronation. For otherwise were he a subject
after a sort and subordinate, which may not be thought without
breach of duty and loyalty. For then must we deny him to be
above the law, and to have no power of dispensing with any
positive law, or of granting especial privileges and charters
unto any, which is his only and clear right . . . And though at
his coronation he take an oath not to alter the laws of tlie land,
yet this oath notwithstanding, he may alter or suspend any
particular law that seemeth hurtful to the public estate . . .
Thus much in short, because I have heard some to be of opinion
that the laws be above the King . . . Lastly he hath in the
right of his crown many prerogatives above any common person,
be he never so potent or honourable.
Parliament { parJamentum) . . . The assembly of the King and
the three estates of the realm, videlicet, the Lords Spiritual, the
Lords Temporal, and Commons, for the debating of matters
touching the commonwealth and especially the making and
correcting of laws; which assembly or court is of all other
the highest, and of greatest authority . . . And of these two,
one must needs be true, that either the King is above the
parliament, that is, the positive laws of his kingdom, or else
that he is not an absolute King (Aristotle, Polit. III. i6) \ And
therefore though it be a merciful policy and also a politic
mercy (not alterable without great peril) to make laws by the
consent of the whole realm, because so no one part shall have
cause to complain of a partiality, yet simply to bind the prince
to or by these laws were repugnant to the nature and constitu-
tion of an absolute monarchy . . .
Prerogative of the King {praerogativa regis) is that especial
power, pre-eminence or privilege that the King hath in any
kind, over and above other persons and above the ordinary
course of the common law, in the right of his crown ^ . . . Now
^ The exact reference is obscure, but Aristotle (1. c.) concludes ' kclv
€( Tivas apx^i-v Pi\Tiov, tovtovs KaTaararkov vofiO(pvXaKas Koi vmjpiTas roTi
vofiois : ' which agrees with Bracton and not with Cowell.
=2 Cf. Blackstone, I. 7 (ed. 1830, vol. I. p. 239) : ' By the word Preroga-
tive we usually understand that special pre-eminence which the king hath,
1603-.] Parliament, Prerogative, &c. 411
for those regalities which are of the higher nature (all being
within the compass of his prerogative and justly to be comprised
under that title), there is not one that belonged to the most
absolute prince in the world which doth not also belong to our
King, except the custom of the nations so ditfer (as indeed
they do) that one thing be in the one accounted a regality
that in another is none. Only by the custom of this kingdura
he maketh no laws without the consent of the three estates,
though he may quash any law concluded of by them. And
whether his power of making laws be restrained de necessitate
or of a godly and commendable policy, not to be altered without
great peril, I leave to the judgment of wiser men. But I hold
it incontrollable [incontrovertible], that the King of England is
an absolute King. And all learned politicians do range the power
of making laws inter insignia suimtiae et ahsolutae potestatis.
Subsidy [subsidium) . . . signifying a tax or tribute assessed
by parliament, and granted by the Commons to be levied of
every subject according to the value of his lands or goods, after
the rate of 4s. in the pound for land and 2s. 8d. for goods, as it
is most commonly used at this day. Some hold opinion that
this subsidy is granted by the subject to the Prince, in
recompense or consideration, that whereas the Prince of his
absolute power might make laws of himself, he doth of favour
admit the consent of his subjects therein, that all things in
their own confession may be done with the greater indifFerency.
CowelVs Interpreter, ed. 1607.
6. John Selden.
Convocation.
We have nothing so nearly expresses the power of a convoca-
tion in respect of a parliament, as a court-leet where they have
a power to make byelaws, as they call them ; as that a man
shall put so many cows or sheep in the common ; but they can
make nothing that is contrary to the laws of the kingdom.
over and above all other persous, and out of the ordinary course of the
common law, in right of his regal dignity.' The substitution of the words
' out of ' for ' above ' makes all the difference.
412 James I. [1603-.
King.
A King is a thing men have made for their own sakes, for
quietness' sake . . .
A King that claims privileges in his own country, because
they have them in another, is just as a cook, that claims fees in
one Lord's house because they are allowed in another. If the
master of the house will yield them, well and good.
The text, ' Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's,'
makes as much against Kings as for them, for it says plainly
that some things are not Caesar's. But divines make choice of
it, first in flattery, and then because of the other part adjoined
to it, ' Render unto God the things that are God's,' where they
bring in the Church. . . .
The King can do no wrong : that is, no process can be
granted against him. What must be done then % Petition
him, and the King writes upon the petition ' soit droit fait,'
and sends it to the chancery, and then the business is heard.
His confessor will not tell him he can do no wrong.
There 's a great deal of difference between head of the church
and supreme governor, as our canons call the King. Conceive
it thus : there is in the kingdom of England a college of
physicians ; the King is supreme governor of those, but not
head of them, nor president of the college, nor the best
physician.
Prerogative.
Prerogative is something that can be told what it is, not
something that has no name. Just as you see the archbishop
has his prerogative court, but we know what is done in that
court, so the King's prerogative is not his will, or — what
divines make it — a power to do what he lists.
The King's prerogative, that is the King's law. For example,
if you ask whether a patron may present to a living after six
months by law.? I answer, No. If you ask whether the King
may % I answer, he may by his prerogative, that is, by the law
that concerns him in that case. Selden's Table Talk, ed. 1696.
1603.] The Millenary Petition. 413
VII.— ECCLESIASTICAL.
I. Documents.
1. The Millenary Petition, 1603.
The humble petition of the ministers of the Church of England
desiring reformation of certain ceremonies and abuses of the
Church.
To the most Christian and excellent prince, our gracious and
dread Sovereign, James, by the grace of God, &c., we, the
ministers of the Church of England that desire reformation,
wish a long, prosperous and happy reign over us in this life,
and in the next everlasting salvation.
Most gracious and dread Sovereign, seeing it hath pleased the
Divine Majesty, to the great comfort of all good Christians, to
advance your Highness, according to your just title, to the
peaceable government of this church and commonwealth of
England, we, the ministers of the gospel in this land, neither
as factious men aflfecting a popular parity in the church nor as
schismatics aiming at the dissolution of the state ecclesiastical,
but as the faithful servants of Christ and loyal subjects of your
Majesty, desiring and longing for the redress of divers abuses of
the church, could do no less in our obedience to God, service to
your Majesty, love to his church, than acquaint your princely
Majesty with our particular griefs. For, as your princely pen
writeth, the Kiug as a good physician must first know what
peccant humours his patient naturally is most subject unto
before he can begin his cure. And although divers of us that
sue for reformation have formerly in respect of the times
subscribed to the book, some upon protestation, some upon
exposition given them, some with condition, rather than tlie
church should have been deprived of their labour and ministry,
yet now we, to the number of more than a thousand of your
Majesty's subjects and ministers, all groaning as under a
common burthen of human rites and ceremonies, do with one
joint consent humble ourselves at your Majesty's feet, to be
eased and relieved in this behalf. Our humble suit then unto
414 James I. [1603.
your Majesty is, that [of] these offences following, some may be
removed, some amended, some qualified :
I. In the church service, that the cross in baptism, inter-
rogatories ministered to infants, [and] confirmation, as super-
fluous, may be taken away. Baptism not to be ministered by
women, and so explained. The cap and surplice not urged.
That examination may go before the communion. That it be
ministered with a sermon. That divers terms of priests and
absolution and some other used, with the ring in marriage, and
other such like in the book may be corrected. The longsome-
ness of service abridged. Church songs and music moderated
to better edification. That the Lord's day be not profaned:
the rest upon holidays not so strictly urged. That there be an
uniformity of doctrine prescribed. No popish opinion to be
any more taught or defended : no ministers charged to teach
their people to bow at the name of Jesus. That the canonical
scriptures only be read in the church.
II. Concerning church ministers, that none hereafter be
admitted into the ministry but able and sufficient men, and
those to preach diligently, and especially upon the Lord's day.
That such as be already entered and cannot preach may either
be removed and some charitable course taken with them for
their relief, or else to be forced, according to the value of their
livings, to maintain preachers. That non-residency be not
permitted. That King Edward's statute [5 & 6 E. VI. 12] for
the lawfulness of ministers' marriage be revived. That
ministers be not urged to subscribe but (according to the
law) to the articles of religion and the King's supremacy only.
III. For church living and maintenance, that bishops leave
their commendams, some holding prebends, some parsonages,
some vicarages, with their bishoprics. That double-beneficed
men be not suffered to hold some two, some three benefices
with cure, and some two, three or four dignities besides.
That impropriations annexed to bishoprics and colleges be
demised only to the preachers' incumbents for the old rent.
That the impropriations of layman's fees may be charged with
a sixth or seventh part of the worth, to the maintenance of the
preaching minister.
IV. For church discipline, that the discipline and excom-
1603.] The Millenary Petition. 415
munication may be administered according to Christ's own
institution, oi' at least that enormities may be redressed ; as,
namely, that excommunication come not forth under the name
of lay persons, chancellors, officials, &c. That men be not
excommunicated for trifles and twelve-penny matters : that
none be excommunicated without the consent of his pastor.
That the officers be not suffered to extort unreasonable fees.
That none having jurisdiction or registers' places put out the
same to farm. That divers popish canons (as for restraint of
marriage at certain time-;) be reveised. That the longsomeness
of suits in ecclesiastical courts (which hang sometime two,
three, four, five, six or seven years) may be restrained. That
the oath ex officio, whereby men are forced to accuse themselves,
be more sparingly used. That licences for marriage without
banns asked be more cautiously granted.
These, with such other abuses yet remaining and practised in
the Church of England, we are able to show not to be agreeable
to the Scriptures, if it shall please your Highness further to
hear us, or more at large by writing to be informed, or by
conference among the learned to be resolved. And yet we
doubt not but that without any further process your Majesty
(of whose Christian judgment we have received so good a taste
already) is able of yourself to judge of the equity of this cause.
God, we trust, hath appointed your Highness our physician to
heal these diseases. And we say with Mordecai to Hester,
' Who knowetli whether you ai'e come to the kingdom for such
a time]' [Esth. iv. 14]. Thus your Majesty shall do that
which we aie persuaded shall be acceptable to God, honour-
able to your Majesty in all succeeding ages, profitable to his
church, which shall be thereby increased, comfortable to your
ministers, which shall be no more suspended, silenced, disgraced,
imprisoned for men's traditions, and prejudicial to none but to
those that seek their own quiet, credit and profit in the world.
Thus with all dutiful submission referring ourselves to your
Majesty's pleasure for your gracious answer as God shall direct
you, we most humbly recommend your Highness to the Divine
Majesty, whom we beseech for Christ his sake to dispose your
royal heart to do herein what shall be to his glory, the good of
his church, and your endless comfort.
41 6 James L [1604.
Your Majesty's most huniLle subjects, the ministers of the
gospel, that desire, not a disorderly innovation, but a due and
godly reformation. Fullers Church Uistory, Book X.
2. Ham'ptcm Court Conference^ Jan. 1604.
The sum of what was concluded at this conference will
api^ear in this following authentic paper, which seems to be
[by] the hand of the Bishop of London [Bancroft],
A note of such things as shall be reformed in the Church.
1. The Absolution shall be called the Absolution or General
Remission of Sins.
2. The Confirmation shall be called the Confirmation or
Further Examination of children's faith.
3. The Private Baptism, now by laymen and women, shall
be called the Private Baptism by the ministers only ; and all
those questions in that baptism, which insinuate it to be done
by women, taken away.
4. The Apocrypha, that hath some repugnancy to the
canonical scripture, shall not be read ; and other places chosen
which either are explanations of scripture or suit best for good
life and manners.
5. The jurisdiction of the bishops shall be somewhat limited,
and to have either the dean and chapter, or some grave
minister assistant to them in ordination, suspension, degrada-
tion, &c.
6. The excommunication, as it is now used, shall be taken
away both in name and nature. And a writ out of the
chancery, to punish the contumacious, shall be framed.
7. The kingdom of Ireland, the borders of Scotland, and all
Wales, to be planted with schools and preachers as soon as
may be.
8. As many learned ministers, and maintenance for them, to
be provided in such places of England, where there is want, as
may be.
9. As {ev7 double-beneficed men and pluralities as may be ;
and those that have double benefices to maintain preachers, and
to have their liviue:s as near as may be one to the other.
1604.] Hampton Court Conference : Convocation. 417
10. One uniform translation of the Bible to be made, and
only to be used in all the churches of England.
1 1 . One Catechism to be made and used in all places.
12. The Articles of Religion to be explained and enlarged;
and no man to teach or read against any of them.
13. A care had, to observe who do not receive the com-
munion once in the year : the ministers to certify the bishops,
the bishops the archbishops, and the archbishops the King.
14. An inhibition for Popish books to be brought over ; and
if any come, to be delivered into their hands only that are fit to
have them.
15. The High Commission to be reformed, and reduced to
higher causes and fewer persons ; and those of more honour and
better qualities. Stryi^e, Wkitgift, vol. II. p. 501.
3. The King's Licence to Convocation, April, 1604.
James, by the grace of God, &c., to all to whom, &c.,
greeting. Whereas in and by one Act of Parliament made at
AVestniinster in the 25th year of the reign of King Henry the
Eighth, reciting that where the King's humble and obedient
subjects, the clergy of the realm of England, had not only
acknowledged according to the truth that the Convocations of
the same clergy were, always had been and ought to be as-
sembled only by the King's writ, but also submitting themselves
to the King's Majesty had promised in verbo sacerdotii that they
would never from thenceforth presume to attempt, allege, claim
or put in ure, or enact, promulge or execute any new canons,
constitutions, ordinances, provincial or other, or by whatsoever
other name they should be called in the Convocation unless the
said King's most royal assent and licence might to them be had
to make, promulge and execute the same, and that the said King
did give his most royal assent and authority in that behalf, it
was therefore enacted by the authority of the said parliament
according to the said submission and petition of the said clergy
(amongst other things) that they nor any of them from thence-
forth should enact, promulge or execute any such canons [&c.]
in their Convocations in time coming, (which always should be
assembled by authority of the King's writ), unless the same
£ e
41 H James I. [i604.
clergy miglit liave the King's most royal assent and licence to
make, jiromulge and execute frucli canons [&c.], upon pain of
every one of the said clergy doing contrary to the said Act and
being thereof convict to suffer imprisonment and make fine at
the King's will ; and further by the said Act it is provided that
no canons [&c.] should be made or put in execution within this
realm by authority of the Convocations of the clergy which
should be contrary or repugnant to the King's prerogative
royal or the customs, laws or statutes of this realm, anything
contained in the said Act to the contrary thereof notwithstand-
ing ; and lastly it is also provided by the said Act that such
canons [&c.] which then were already made, and wliich then
were not contrary nor repugnant to the laws [&c.J of this realm
nor to the damage or hurt of the King's prerogative royal,
should then still be used and executed as they were before the
making of the said Act, until such time as they should be
viewed, searched or otherwise ordered and determined by the
persons mentioned in the said Act or the more part of them,
according to the tenour, form and effect of the said Act, as by
the said Act amongst divers other things more fully and at
large it doth and may appear; Know ye that we, for divers
urgent and weighty causes and considerations us thereunto
specially moving, of our special grace, certain knowledge and
mere motion ... do give and grant full, free and lawful libeity,
licence, power and authority unto the Reverend Father in God,
Richard, Bishop of Loudon, president of this present Convocation
for the province of Canterbury at this present parliament now
assembled, and to the rest of the bishops of the same province,
and unto all deans of cathedral churches, archdeacons,
chapters and colleges, and the whole clergy of ever}'- several
diocese within the said province. That they, the said Bishop of
London, president of the said Convocation, and the rest of the
said bishops [&c.] or the greater number of them shall and may
from time to time confer . . . and agree of and upon such
canons [&c.] as they, the said Bishop of London, president of
the said Convocation, and the rest of the said bishops ... or the
greater number of them (whereof the said president ... to be
one) and the rest of the clergy ... or the greater number of
them shall think necessary . . . , for the honour and service of
1604.] License to Convocation. 419
Almighty God, the good and quiet of the Church and the better
government thereof, to be from time to time observed ... as
well by themselves and the rest of the whole clergy of the said
province of Canterbury in their several callings . . . and ad-
ministrations and also by all chancellors, deans and chapters,
archdeacons, commissaries, • . . and all other ecclesiastical
officers and their inferior ministers whatsoever of tlie same
province of Canterbury in their distinct courts and in the ordei'
and manner of their proceedings ; and further to confer . . .
and agree upon such other points ... as we from time to time
shall deliver . . . unto the said Bishop of London, president of
the said Convocation, in writing under our sign manual or privy
signet to be debated . . . and concluded upon : the said statute
or any other statute. Act of Parliament ... or any other . . .
thing whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding.
And we do also by these presents give unto the said Bishop of
London, president of the said Convocation, and to the rest of the
bishops [&c.] full, free and lawful liberty . . , and authority that
they, the said Bishop of London . . . and the rest of the said
bishops of the same province or the greater number of them
(whereof the said president of the said Convocation to be one) and.
the rest of the clergy ... or the greater number of them, all
the said canons [&c.] so by tliem . . . agreed upon shall and may
set down in writing in such form as heretofore hath been accus-
tomed; and the same so set down in writing to exhibit and
deliver . . . unto us, to the end that we upon mature consider-
ation . . . may allow . . . and ratify or otherwise disallow , . .
such and so many of the said canons [&c.] as we shall think fit :
. . . provided always that the said canons [&c.] ... be not contrary
or repugnant to the doctrine, orders and ceremonies of the
Church of England already established ; provided also . . . that
the said canons [&c.] shall not be of any force ... in the law,
but only such and so many of them and after such time as we
by our letters patent under our gx-eat seal of England shall
allow . . . the same; anything before in these presents con-
tained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.
[Dated] at Westminster, 12 April.
Pat. Roll, 2 James I, Part 25.
E e 2
420 James I. [1604.
4. A Proclamation enjoining conformity to the form of the
service of God established [July, 1604].
The care whicli we have had and pains which we have taken
to settle the affairs of this Church of England in an uniformity
as well of doctrine as of government, both of them agreeable to
the word of God, the doctrine of the primitive churcli and the
laws heretofore established for those matters in this realm, may
sufhciently appear by our former actions. For no sooner did
the infection of the plague reigning immediately after our entry
into this kingdom give us leave to have any assembly, but we
held at our honour of Hampton Court for that purpose a con-
ference between some principal bishops and deans of this
church, and such other learned men as understood or favoured
the opinions of those that seek alteration, before ourself and
our council. Of which conference the issue was, that no well
grounded matter appeared to us or our said council why the
state of the church here by law established should in any
material point be altered . . . Notwithstanding at the late
assembly of our parliament there wanted not many that
renewed with no little earnestness the questions before deter-
mined and many more, as well about the Book of Common
Prayer as other matters of church government, and importuned
us for our assent to many alterations therein. But . . . the end
of all their motions and overtures falling out to be none other
in substance than was before at the conference at Hampton
Court, ... we have thought good once again to give notice
thereof to all our subjects by public declaration, . . . and con-
sequently to admonish them all in general to conform them-
selves thereunto, without listening to the troublesome spirits of
some persons, who never receive contentment either in civil or
ecclesiastical matters but in their own fantasies, especially of
certain ministers Avho under pretended zeal of reformation are
the chief authors of divisions and sects among our people. Of
many of which we hope that now when they shall see that such
things as they have proposed for alteration prove ujion trial so
weakly grounded as desei've not admittance, thej' will out of
their own judgment conform themselves . . . But if our hope
herein fail us, we must advertise them that our duty towards
1604.] Proclamation against Nonconformity. 421
God requiretli at our hands, that what untractable men do not
perform upon admonition, they must be compelled unto by
authority . . . And yet by advice of our council and opinion of
the bishops, we have thought good to give time to all ministers
disobedient to the orders of the church and to ecclesiastical
authority here by law established, and who for such dis-
obedience, either in the days of the Queen our sister of famous
memory deceased or since our reign, have incurred any censures
of the church or penalties of laws, until the last of November
now next ensuing to bethink themselves of the course they will
hold therein, . . . assuring them that after that day we shall not
fail to do that which princely providence requireth at our
hands ; that is, to put into execution all ways and means that
may take from among our people all grounds and occasions of
sects, divisions and unquietness . . ,
[Dated 16 July, a. r. 2.]
Cardwell, Documentary Annals, vol. II. p. 60.
5. Circtdar letter of Archhishop Whitgi/t, vntJi a copy of
a letter from the Privy Council touching clerical non-
conformists, Dec. 1604.
Salutem in Christo. I have received a letter from the lords
of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, whereof your
lordship is to take notice, the copy whereof followeth word for
word.
After our hearty commendations to your lordship. Foras-
much as the time is now expired which by his Majesty's late
proclamation, dated the i6th day of July last, was prescribed
and limited to all those of the clergy for the conforming of
themselves unto the laws and orders of the church government
established within this realm, that have heretofore, under
a pretended zeal of reformation, but indeed of a factious desire
of innovation, refused to yield their obedience and conformity
thereunto ; by means whereof all such as persist in that wilful
disobedience are subject to the penalty of deprivation from
their benefices and other church livings, of deposition from
their ministry, and other censures of the church, which were as
well at all times heretofore as presently in vigour and force . . ,
422 James I. [i622.
His Majesty is well pleased to have it known that he is as far
from alteration of his purpose to work au uuifonuity, as they
are importunate in their unjust desire of innovation, and
expecteth that from henceforth without delay, where advice
prevaileth not, authority shall compel, and that the laws shall
be put in execution where admonition taketh not effect . . . And
so we bid your lordship very heartily farewell. From White-
hall the loth of December MDCIV . . .
Your lordship having perused this letter cannot but greatly
rejoice at his Majesty's constant resolution and most honourable
inclination of their lordships, and I doubt not but you will with
all care, faith and diligence accomplif-h tl.e effect thereof . . .
At Lambeth the 22nd of December, MDCIV,
Your lordship's very loving friend and brother,
Pt. Cantuak.
CardwelVa Documentary Annah, vol. II. p. 69.
6. Letter of indulgence to Papists, 1622.
The Lord Keeper wrote to the judges on this manner:
That the King having, uj^on deep reason of state, and in
expectation of the like correspondence from foreign princes to
the professors of our religion, resolved to grant some grace to
the imprisoned Papists, had commanded him to pass some writs
under the broad seal for that purpose : wherefore it is his
Majesty's pleasure, that they make no niceness or difficulty to
extend his princely favour to all such as they shall find prisoners
in the gaols of their circuits, for any church recusancy, or
refusing the oath of supremacy, or dispersing of popish books,
or any other point of recusancy that shall concern religion
only and not matters of state. Emhworth, vol. I. p. 63.
7. Letter of James I to the Archbishop of Canterbury/, v-ith
directions about jyreachers, 1622.
Most Reverend Father in God, right trusty and entirely
beloved councillor, we greet you well. Forasmuch as the
abuses and extravagances of preachers in the pulpit have been
in all times suppressed in this realm by some act of Council or
1622.] Papists: Preachers. 423
State, with the advice and resolution of grave and learned
prelates ; . . , and whereas at this present divers young-
students, by reading of late writers and ungrounded divines,
do broach many times unprofitable, unsound, seditious and
dangerous doctrines, to the scandal of the Church and disquiet
of the State and present government ; We, upon humble
representation unto us of these inconveniences by yourself and
sundry other grave and reverend prelates , ... do by these our
special letters straitly charge and command you to use all
possible care and diligence that these limitations and cautinns
herewith sent unto you, concerning preachers, be duly and
strictly from henceforth put in practice and observed by the
several bishops within your jurisdiction . . .
Directions concerning preachers . . .
I. That no preacher, under the degi-ee and calling of a
bishop or dean, ... do take occasion, by the expounding of
any text of scripture whatsoever, to fall into any set discourse
or common place, otherwise than by oldening the coherence and
division of the text, which shall not be comprehended and
warranted, in essence, substance, effect or natural inference,
within some one of the Articles of Religion . . .
II. That no parson, vicar, curate or lecturer, shall preach
any sermon or collation hereafter, upon Sundays and holidays
in the afternoon, in any cathedral or parish church throughout
the kingdom, but upon some part of the Catechism, or some text
taken out of the Creed, Ten Commandments or the Lord's
Prayer, (funeral sermons only excepted) . . .
III. That no preacher of what title soever, under the degree
of a bishop or dean at the least, do from henceforth pi'esume to
preach in any popular auditory the deep points of predestina-
tion, election, reprobation, or of the universality, efficacy,
resistibility or irresistil)ility of God's grace . . .
IV. That no preacher . . . shall presume in any auditory
within this kingdom to declare, limit or bound out, by way of
positive doctrine in any lecture or sermon, the power, pre-
rogative and jurisdiction, authority or duty of sovereign
princes . , .
V. That no preacher . . . shall presume causelessly or without
424 James I. [leii.
invitation from the text to fall into bitter invectives and in-
decent railing speeches against the persons of either Papists or
Puritans . . .
VI. Lastly, that the archbishops and bishops of the kingdom
(whom his Majesty hath good cause to blame for their former
remissness) be more wary and choice in their licensing of
preachers, and revoke all grants made to any chancellor,
official or commissary, to pass licences in this kind : and that
all the lecturers ... be licensed henceforward in the court of
faculties, by recommendation of the party from the bishop of
the diocese, under his hand and seal, with a fiat from the
Lord Archbishop of Canterbury [and] a confirmation under the
great seal of England. And that such as do transgress any
one of the directions be suspended by the bishop of the diocese,
or ill his default by the archbibhop of tlie province, ah officio et
heneficio, for a year and a day, until his Majesty, by the advice
of the next Convocation, shall prescribe some further punish-
ment. Rmhworth, vol. I. pp. 64-5.
8. High Commission, 161 1'.
[I.] James by the gi-ace of God, &c., to the most reverend
father our right trusty and right well-beloved councillor,
George, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury [&c.], and to the
Lord Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being, and to
our right trusty and right well-beloved councillor, Thomas,
Lord Ellesmere, Lord Chancellor of England, and to our right
trusty and right w'ell-beloved cousin and councillor, Eobert,
Earl of Salisbury, Lord High Treasurer of England, and to the
Lord Chancellor of England or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal
of England . . . and to the Lord Treasurer of England for the
time being, and to [87 others^] greeting.
[II.] Whereas at the parliament holden at "Westminster in
the first year of the reign of our dear sister Elizabeth late
^ Additions made in tlie Commissions of 1613 and 1625 are printed in
italics.
- The list includes ten Bishops, six Deans, four Archdeacons, eight high
ofiBcials of state, the two Chief Justices and the Chief Baron, with six
other Judges, the Attorney General, the Solicitor General, &c.
1611.] High Commission. 425
Queen of England one Act was made, amongst others, entitled
An Act restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over
the state ecclesiastical [(fee], by which said Act, amongst other
things, it was established and enacted, That [&c.] ; by the
express words of which said Act authorizing our said dear
sister, her heirs and successors, to grant such commissions when
and as often and for such and so long time as should be thought
meet and convenient, it appeareth that the said parliament
purposed plainly to represent and intimate to our said dear
sister and the kings of this realm that should succeed, as well
the great trust that was reposed in the crown, as also their
own opinion and intention that such commissions should be of a
temporary nature, and that it was desired and meant that they
might be accommodated to tlie accidents and varieties of times
and occasions ; We have now thought good, for divers weighty
causes and out of our princely care and desire to ease and
content our loving subjects as far as may stand witli good
goveinment and justice, by the advice of our Privy Council to
grant forth our commission in manner and form following.
[III.] Know ye therefore that we for sundry good, weighty
and necessary causes and considerations us thereunto especially
moving, of our mere motion and certain knowledge, by force
and virtue of our supreme authority and prerogative royal and
of the said Act, do by these our letters patents under our great
seal of England give and grant full, free and lawful power and
authority unto you the said [commissioners above-named] being
all our natural subjects, or any three or more of you, whereof
[the Archbishop, the Lord Treasurer, the Lord Privy Seal, ten
Bishops and fourteen others] to be one, from time to time to
enquire as well by examination of witnesses or presentments as
also by examination of the parties accused themselves upon
their oath (where there shall first appear suflficieut matter of
charge by examination of witnesses or by pi-esentments or by
public and notorious fame or by information of the ordinary) of
all and singular apostasies, heresies, great errors in matters of
faith and religion, schisms, unlawful conventicles tending to
schism against the leligion or government of the Cliurch now
established ; and also of all persons which have or shall refuse
to have their children baptized, or which have or shall ad-
426 James /. [leii.
iiiiiiister or procure or willingly suffer the sacrament of baptism
to be administered by any Jesuit, Seminary or other popish
priest, or which have or shall celebrate the mass or procure the
same to be celebrated, or willingly hear or be present at the
same, and of their said offences ; and also of all blasphemous
and impious acts and speeches, scandalous books, libels and
writings against the doctrine of religion, the book of Common
Prayer or ecclesiastical state or government now established
in the Church of England, or against any archbishop or bishop,
touching any offence or crime of ecclesiastical cognizance,
profanation of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's
Supper and of all other things and places consecrated or
dedicated to divine service; wilful and unlawful digging up
of buried bodies in any church or chapel, or churchyard ;
violent and wilful disturbances and interruptions of divine
service or sermons in any church, chapel or public preaching
place; violent and wilful laying of hands upon the person of
any archbishop or bishop ; simonies, incests, infamous and
notorious adulteries ; ' and of all abuses, offences, inxohnt mis-
behaviours and contempts being not capital, committed or done
unto or against you or any such three or more of you as is
aforesaid, judicially sitting in our said court of High Commission
for ecclesiastical causes ; and. of all outrageous offences, abuses
and contem.2)ts aforesaid against any our officers or ministers
in the execution of the process or mandates awarded or made
according to the tenour or to the true intent or meaning of these
our letters patents ; and also of all corruptions, contempts and
abuses in any ecclesiastical judges, officers, or their deputies or
clerks or other ministers whatsoever belonging ^ either to our
said court of High Commission [^"c] or to any other ecclesiastical
courts or . . . employed in or by the same, committed in any
county ... or other places . . . within these our realms of
England and Ireland and dominion of Wales, and of all the
offenders in the premises, and of all their counsellors, procurers
and abettors.
[IV.] And we do further give and grant full, free and lawful
power and authority unto you all or to such three or more of
1 Added in 1613.
1611.] High Commission. 42'j
you as is aforesaid to enquire as aforesaid of all misdemeanours
whatsoever committed by any ecclesiastical person within these
our realms, . . , which in any wise concern the execution of
their several offices ... in any matter of ecclesiastical cognizance,
as also of all other misdemeanours committed by the said
ecclesiastical persons for which they may be censured by the
ecclesiastical laws of this our kingdom.
[v.] And also we . . . give . . . authority unto you or any
three or more of you, whereof [&c. as before], to search for,
apprehend and imprison ... all Jesuits, Seminaries and other
popish priests, obstinate and dangerous popish recusants,
suspected of practice against the state, and sectaries ; and
likewise all persons which shall send or convey . . . any children
of their own or of any others or any persons whatsoever into
the parts beyond the seas, to be there kept, taught or brought
up in the Romish religion, either in any school or seminary or
in any other place whatsoever; and also all such as shall send
and convey . . . any money or other things towards the relief or
maintenance of any such child or children, or of the said
seminaries or schools themselves, or any persons living in the
same ; and to proceed against and punish them in manner and
fonn hereafter following, or otherwise to deliver them over to
our temporal courts, judges and justices as their several cases
shall require.
[VI.] And also we ... do give full . . . authority unto you or
any three or more of you, whereof [&c.], to enquire and search
for ... all heretical, schismatical and seditious books, libels and
writings, ^ and all other hooks, pamphlets and 2>ortrai tinges
offensive to the state or set forth without sufficient and lavj/id
authority in that behalf, and all makers, devisers, printers and
wilful dispersers of any such . . . books [&c.], and their pro-
curers, counsellors and abettors ; and the same books [&c.] and
the printing-presses themselves likewise to seize ' and so to
order and dispose of them . . . as they may not after serve or be
employed for any such unhnvful use, restoring nevertheless the
materials in such case as they may not aftervmrds be so abused
or otherwise the value of them to the owners thereof: and also to
take, apprehend and imprison . . . the offenders in that behalf,
' Added in 1613.
428 James I. [leii.
^ and also all persons which shall offend against any decree
Iveretofore made by the high court of Star-Chamher . . . or hereafter
to be tliere made touching the reformation of divers disorders in
the printing and uttering of hooks.
[VII.] And we do further give . . . authority unto you or
any three or more of you as is last before mentioned to send
your letters missive to or for any person wliich shall be charged,
accused or upon notorious fame suspected to have offended in
any of the premises, thereby . . . commanding them to appear
before you [&c.] at a day and place certain to answer there-
unto ; and where you [&c.] shall find it necessary in any of
the cases aforesaid only, we give you [&c.] authority, by [y]our
messengers or pursuivants or by attachment to be directed to
the sheriff to whom the execution in that behalf shall appertain,
to cause such person so cliarged [&c.] to be arrested . . . and
ajjjirehended and to be kept in safe custody till he shall be
brought before you [&c.], or otherwise shall be enlarged or
delivered according to the direction hereafter in these presents
prescribed.
[Vm.] And we likewise give . . . authority unto you [&c.]
to command all our sheriffs, messengers and other officers . . .
by your process of attachment, either to bring safely before you
[&c.] the said persons ... or else, if you [&c.] shall in your
discretions so think fit, to take such sufficient bonds to our use
of such persons which from time to time shall be so arrested . . .
as aforesaid . . . for their personal appearance to be made before
you [&c.] . . .
[IX.] And we do give authority to all the said sheriffs . . ,
and other officers to take such bonds to our use of such persons
and in such cases ... as are before mentioned ; and in case any
such persons be not able or will obstinately refuse to give
sufficient bond and security ... as aforesaid . . . , then we will
that in our name you [&c.] give commandment to such sheriff
[&c.] under whose charge he or they so to be convented before
you shall happen to be, either for the bringing of him before
you or else to commit him to ward . . . , so to remain until he
shall give such bond or until you [&c.] shall take further
order for his enlargement.
^ Added in 1613.
1611,] High Commisswn. 429
[X.] And furthermore we give authority unto you [&c.] to
take by your discretions of any offender or suspect person
which shall be convented and brought before you [&c.] such
recognizances or obligations to our use in such sums of money
for their personal appearance and attendance from time to time
before you [&c.] as to you [&c.] shall seem meet in that behalf :
and if any person which shall be so called before you [&c.]
touching any of the premises do refuse to make their personal
appearance ... or to enter such bond or recognizance as
aforesaid, then it shall be lawful to you [&c.] to apprehend
and to commit to prison all the said persons . . . , there to remain
in safe custody for such reasonable time as you [&c.] shall
think fit in your discretions, or till they shall enter such bond
or recognizance . . . aforesaid.
[XI.] And we do also give authority unto you [&c.] to call
before you [&c.] all offenders in any of the premises and also
all such as shall be charged, accused or upon notorious fame
suspected to have offended, and them to examine upon their
corporal oaths touching every of the premises which you shall
object against them, in case it do first appear that the parties
unto which the said oath shall be so ministered are thereof
detected either by examination of witnesses or by presentments
or by public or notorious fame or by information of the ordinary
whei e the offence was committed : and if any person shall
refuse to take the said oath in the cases aforesaid or having
taken the oath shall refuse to answer upon their oath directly
and fully unto the articles and matters objected against them,
then it shall be lawful to you [&c.] to apprehend . . . such
persons . . . and to commit them to prison, there to remain . . .
until they have taken the said oath and made full and direct
answer respectively unto the said articles . . . , or otherwise to
proceed against the said refusers according to the ecclesiastical
law in that behalf.
[XTI.] And likewise we give unto you [&c.] authority to call
and send for all such witnesses or other persons as can inform
you concerning any of the premises as you [&c.] shall think
meet . . . , and them to examine upon their corporal oaths for the
better trial and opening of the premises.
[XIII.] And further we give authority unto you [&c.] from
430 James 1. [leii.
time to time during our pleasure to hear all the offences and
the offenders aforesaid, and to proceed against them either
according to the form of the law ecclesiastical or summarily
according to the grave wisdoms and discretions of you [&c.],
and likewise to order and determine the same, inflicting such
censures and punishments only as are hereafter mentioned and
prescrihed.
[XIV.] And if you [&c.] shall find by confession of the party
or other sufficient proof any person to have offended in the
j)remises, or refusing to obey or perform your orders . . . , that
then you [&c.] shall have authority ... to punish the same
person so offending by censures ecclesiastical or by reasonable
fine or imprisonment according to the quality and quantity of
their offence, or by all or any the said means according to
your discretions.
[XV.] And when an/ person shall be convented or presented
before you [&c.] for any of the offences before expressed at the
instance and suit of any person promoting the office in that
behalf, that then you [&c.] shall have full power to award such
costs and expenses of the suit as well to and against the party
that shall prefer or present the same offence as to and against
the party that shall be convented, according as their causes
shall require . . . ; and if the said costs and expenses ... be not
paid . . . , then it shall be lawful to you [&c.] to cause such
persons to be arrested and apprehended, . . . and to commit
them to prison there to remain till they have satisfied the
same.
[XYI.] And forasmuch as, if one commit an offence of eccle-
siastical cognizance in one diocese or peculiar jurisdiction, and
afterwards depart and remain in another diocese or jurisdiction
before any suit be therefore commenced or presented in the
place where the offence was committed, he is unpunishable by
any ordinary jurisdiction ecclesiastical, we therefore ... do give
authority to you [&c.], upon the certificate and complaint thereof
to you [&c.] first made by tlie ordinary of the diocese or judge
of the peculiar where the offence was so committed, to send for
by letters missive or to cause to be apprehended and brought
before you [&c.] by process of attachment if need be . . . any
offender or any person charged or suspected to have offended in
1611.] High Commission. 431
any crime of ecclesiastical cognizance other than those which
are before particularly mentioned ; and when any such offender
[&c.] shall appear or be brought before you [&c.], to set down
such orders as you [&c.J shall think meet ; which said orders so
by you [&c.] to be made as aforesaid shall be to this efiect only,
that the said offenders [&c.] shall personally appear to answer
to the said crimes according to the laws ecclesiastical of this our
kingdom before the ordinary or judge ecclesiastical of the place
where the offence was committed.
[XVII.] And likewise we give unto you [&c.] authority to
take sufficient bonds or recognizances ... of all the said
offenders [&c.] for the performance of the said orders ; and if
the said offenders [&c.] shall refuse to perform the said orders
... or to give bonds . . . , then it shall be lawful for you [&c.] . . .
to punish them by reasonable imprisonment according to your
discretion.
[XVIII.] And further we do give unto you [&c.] authority to
take and seize such children and other persons which from time
to time shall be carried or conveyed or [are] ready to be carried
or conveyed into any of the parts beyond the seas to the intent
to be there brought up in Romish religion as aforesaid ;
and likewise to take and seize such money and other things
which shall be appointed to be carried into any of the parts
beyond the seas for the maintenance either of the said children
and persons ... or of any other person brought up or remaining
in the aforesaid seminaries or schools of Romish religion ; and
the said children and other persons which shall be taken as
aforesaid to retain in safe custody till some good order may be
taken for them.
[XIX.] And also we do give unto you [&c.] authority to
seize all massing stuff, relics and other like superstitious things
and to deface the same in such manner as from henceforth they
may not serve for any such superstitious use, without destroy-
ing the substance thereof, except otherwise it cannot be so
defaced.
[xx.] ^ And forasmuch as since our last commission for
causes ecclesiastical . . . there liath been divers lamentable coin-
j)laints and petitions delivered as ivell to ourself as to our Privy
' Added in 1613.
43 2 James I. [leii.
Council by many wives against their husbands, wherein they have
suggested that without any just cause of offence given by them to
their said husbands in tJuit behalf, and nottvithstanding that
some of them have brought to their husbands great advancement,
yet by their husbands' crioel and barbarous usage and breach of
the bonds of holy wedlock and other their ungodly demeanour they
have been either cast off or left by their husbands or forced to fly
from them or leave their colmbitation without fit maintenance
given unto them, and that the ordinary ecclesiastical courts did
not afford them timely and fit means of relief for sundry reasons
and specially because their necessities require above all other cases
of grievance a summ,ary hearing and speedy relief being other-
wise often in danger to perish for want ; We therefore, to the end
tJuit as well ourself as our Privy Council daily employed in the
highest affairs of state might he freed of this particular, as also
that the jtist complaints and distressed estates of such wives in
the cases aforesaid may be with all convenient expedition heard,
determined and relieved in a certain court whereunto in that
behalf tliey may ordinarily repair for justice, do give unto you
[^•c] authority upon every such complaint made to you [^'c] . . .
hy any wife or in the behalf of any wife against her husband, t')
send for by letters missive or to cause to be apjrrehended and
brought before you [^'c] . . . all such husbands . . . ; and when
any such husband . . . shall appear or be brought before you
[4"C.], to 2>^oceed to the examination tliereof by all tlte lawful
ways and means before mentioned with all convenient expe-
dition . . .
[xxi.] And we do further give authority unto you or any five
or more of you whereof [the Archbishop, the Lord Chancellor, the
Lord Treasurer, the Lord Privy Seal, the Bishops of London and
Ely^ to be one, finally to hear and determine . . . the said com-
plaints and accusations made by or in the behalf of any wife
against her husband in the cases aforesaid : and if you or any
such three or more of you as is first above mentioned shall not be
able by your godly and grave counsel and persuasions to reconcile
the said husbands and wives • . . , then you or any five or m,ore of
you, whereof [as hefore~\, to set down such orders from time to time
as you [^'c] shall in your discretions think meet for the competent
and reasonable alimony and maintenances of every such wife for
1611.] High Commission. 433
so long time as you shall think meet, and during the time of her
and her said husband's living asunder and for the defraying
of the expenses of suit which every such wife hath or shall be at
in the presenting of the said cause . . .
[xxii.] And likeivise we give unto you and every such five or
m,ore of you as is aforesaid, authority to take sufficient bonds or
recognizances . . . of every such husband so accused as aforesaid,
as ivell for his appearance . . . as also for the 2>erform,ance of all
your orders made in the behalf of the said, wives as aforesaid,
which bonds [^'c] if they shall refuse to enter into or shall refuse
to perform your said orders, then we give unto you or any such
Jive or more of you as aforesaid authority in that behalf to
punish the same person so refusing or not performing the same
by censures ecclesiastical or by reasonable fine and imprisonment,
or by all or any of the said means according to your discretions.
[XX (xxiii.)] [Power to make statutes for cathedrals, grammar
schools, &c. as before, to a quorum of six, of whom the arch-
bishop or a bishop to be one.]
[XXI (xxiv.)] [Power to the archbishop and bishops to ad-
minister the oath of supremacy as before : certificates of refusal
to be made to the court of King's Bench.]
[XXII (xxv.)] [Sir George Paule to be registrar, with allow-
ance fixed by the commissioners, as before.]
[XXIII (xxvi.)] [Power to appoint messengers, as before.]
[XXIV (xxvii.)] [Appointment of a receiver or receivers :
two books of fines to be kept, and certificates to be made into
the exchequer, as before.]
[XXV (xxviii.)] Provided always . . . that no sentence
definitive of any cause or matter determinable by virtue of this
commission shall hereafter be given without the personal
presence, hearing and full assent of five or more of you our said
commissioners, whereof [the Archbishop, Lord Chancellor, Lord
Treasurer, Lord Privy Seal, the Bishops of London, Winchester,
Exeter, Lichfield, Cliichester, Rochester, or Gloucester, and five
others] to be one, anything before in these presents con-
tained to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding ; ^ ivithout
alteration nevertheless of any direction before in these 2)resents
^ Added in 1613.
434 James I. [len.
given concerning the fersons that are to he of the quorum in the
casps of grievance between husband and wife only.
[XXVI (xxix.)] [Seal to be affixed, as before.]
[XXVII (xxx.)] And our will and pleasure is, and we do
hereby signify and declare unto you our said commissioners and
to all other our loving subjects, that it shall be lawful for any
persons that shall hereafter be sentenced by you by virtue of
this our commission, which shall find themselves grieved by
reason of any such sentence, to become suitors unto us by way
of supplication as of our gi'ace to have a commission of review
to be granted by us for the re-examination of their cause.
[XXVIII (xxxi.)] [General order to sheriffs, &c. to assist the
commissioners, as before.]
[XXIX.] And to the end that this form of commission for
causes ecclesiastical and none other be holden in all parts
throughout the realm. We do by these presents revoke and
cancel all former commissions for ecclesiastical causes in all parts
whatsoever, and do declare our will and pleasure to be, that the
same shall cease, determine and be utterly void, such commissions
as we have granted by way of appeal in ecclesiastical causes
between party and party to judges delegated only excepted.
[Dated] Westminster, August 29.
Pat. Boll, 9 Jac. I, Part 18.
[The commission of 16 13 substitutes for § XXIX of 161 1
the following :]
[xxxii.] Lastly, we . . . give authority unto you the said
George, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, . . . and unto all other
our commissioners named by our former commission lately
granted the 29th day of August in the ninth year of our reign
of England . . ., tliat they and such of tliem as by our said com-
mission are authorised in that behalf may present, hear and
determine all causes and matters before the date hereof com-
menced and at the time of the making hereof depending before
the same commissioners, . . . and also to proceed to the execution
of their sentences . . . as they miglit have done before the
making of these presents : this our present commission . . .
or any other matter . . . notwithstanding.
[Dated] Westminster, June 21.
Pat. lloU, II Jac. I, Part 15.
1626.] No Bishop, no King. 435
[The Commission of 1625 adds the following section :]
[xxxiii.] Provided always . . . that when the convocation of
the clergy for the province of Canterbury shall he assembled,
by reason whereof there will be always at hand for the execution
of this our commission such competent number of the bishops
aforesaid as there will not need the assistance of any other of
our commissioners above-named, that then, during the con-
tinuance of any such assembly, . . . the said bishops only to be
assembled in the said convocation shall proceed in the execution
of our said commission ; and that in their Convocation House
only and not elsewhere ; and that no others of our said com-
missioners above-named shall intermeddle with the execution
of this our commission during the continuance of any such
convocation.
[Dated] Westminster, Jan. 21.
Rymer's Foedeia, vol. XVII. p. 661.
II. Extracts from Ecclesiastical Writers.
1. Laud.
(a) Sermon III^ : Psalms cxxii. 3, 4, 5.
I know there are some that think the Church is not yet far
enough beside the cushion : that their seats are too easy yet,
and too high too. A parity they would have, no bishop, no
governor, but a parochial consistory, and that should be lay
enough too. Well, first, this parity was never left to the
church by Christ. He left apostles, and disciples under them :
no parity. It was never in use with the churcli since Christ.
No church ever anywhere (till this last age) without a bishop
. . . And one thing more I will be bold to speak out of a like
duty to the Church of England and the house of David. They,
whoever they be, that would overthrow sedes ecclesiae, the
seats of ecclesiastical government, will not spare (if ever they
get power) to have a pluck at the throne of David. And there
is not a man that is for parity, all fellows in the church, but he
is not for monarchy in the state.
* Preached 6 Feb., 1625-6, at the opening of Parliament.
F 1 2
43^ James I. [ie25.
(1)) Sermon TV^ : Psalms Ixxv. 2, 3.
The King's power, tliat is from God : the judges' and the
subordinate magistrates' power, that is from the King : both are
for the good of the people, that they may lead a peaceable life
in all godliness and honesty. All judges and courts of justice,
even this great congregation, this great council now ready to
«it, receive influence and power from the King, and are dis-
pensers of his justice, as well as their own, both in the laws
they make and in the laws they execute : in the causes which
they hear and in the sentences which they give : the King
God's High Steward, and they stewards under him.
(c) Sermon V': Psalms Ixxiv. 22.
God's cause is at trial ; but what cause of his is it that is
particularly meant in this place ? . . . First, the magistrate and
his power and justice. And resist either of these, and ye resist
'the power and the ordinance of God' (Rom. xiii. 2) ^. There is
God's cause plain. And the eye of nature could see aliquid
divinum, somewhat that was divine, in the governors and
orderers of commonwealths... And therefore the school concludes,
' that any the least irreverence of a King — as to dispute of his
judgments, and whether we ought to follow and obey him —
sacrilegium dicitur, is justly extended to be called sacrilege.'
And since all sacrilege is a violation of something that is holy,
it is evident that the office and person of the King is sacred :
sacred, and therefore cannot be violated by the hand, tongue
or heart of any man, that is by deed, word or tliought, but 'tis
God's cause, and he is violated in him. And here Kings may
learn if they will, I am sure 'tis fit they should, that those men
which are sacrilegious against God and his Church, are, for the
very neighbourhood of the sin, the likeliest men to offer violence
to the honour of princes first and their persons after.
Seven Sermons preached . . -hy William Laud, <^c., ed. 1651.
1 Preached before the King, 19 June, 1625.
2 Preached before the King, 5 July, 1626.
' ' Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no
power but of God : the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever
therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God : and they
that resist shall receive to themselves damnation ' (Rom. xiii. i, 2).
1626.] Divine Right: Taxation. 437
2. SiBTHORPE.
Sermon^ on Ajpostolic Obedience : Romans xiii. 7.
The prince . . . hath his duty to direct, command and protect
. . . Which duties being performed by a Sovereign, he may
rightly require these dues of subjects ; yea, whether he perform
his duty or not, he may require these dues of them, ... to be
honoured, obeyed and maintained . . . And as rulers may justly
challenge this honour to their persons, so may they with no less
right call for obedience to their laws and commands, . . . whether
the prince be a believer or an infidel, whether he rule justly or
unjustly, courteously or covetously and cruelly. For whereas
there are but duo legis termini, two effects of the law — the one
to perform the commandment, the other to undergo the punish-
ment— if princes command anything which subjects may not
perform, because it is against the laws of God or of nature, or
impossible, yet subjects are bound to undergo the punishment
without either resistance or railing or reviling, and so to
yield a passive obedience, where they cannot exhibit an active
one . . .
Tribute, being due to princes by a triple obligation, ... by
the law of God, as the sign of our subjection ; by the law of
nature, as the reward of their pains and protection ; by the law
of nations, as the sinews of the state's preservation . . . The
consideration of which things (no question) made ... all an-
tiquity to be absolutely for absolute obedience to princes in all
civil or temporal things ; and the more moderate modern
divines . . . acknowledge in this particular, that if a prince
impose an immoderate, yea an unjust tax, yet the subject may
not thereupon withdraw his obedience and duty ; nay he is
bound in conscience to submit.
Apostolic Ohedience, shewing the Duty oj' Subjects to pay
Tribute and Ti.xes to their Prince ... ed. 1626.
* Preached at the Assizes at Northampton, 22 Feb., 1626.
43^ James I. [1627.
3. MaYN WARING.
Sermon /■'.• Eccles. viii. 2.
To ingeminate again the parts of the text; i. Rex, a King:
and what is higher in heaven or earth than a King, God only
excepted] ... 2. Mandatum Regis : and what is stronger than
it 1 ... 3- Obedience to this commandment: and what moi'e
rightful, just and equal with men ] What with God more
acceptable *? . . .
Among all tlie powers that be ordained of God the regal is
most high, strong and large : . . . No power in the woi'ld or in
the hierarchy of the church can lay restraint upon these
supremes . . . Now to this high, large and most constraining
power of Kings, not only nature, but even God himself gives
from heaven most full and ample testimony, and that this
power is not merelj^ human but superhuman and indeed no less
than a power divine . . . That sublime power therefore which
resides in earthly potentates is not a derivation or collection of
human power scattered among many and gathered into one
head, but a participation of God's own omnipotency, which he
never did communicate to any multitudes of men in the world,
but only and immediately to his own vicegerents . . .
The second point was Mandatum Regis \ the commandment
of the King . . . All the significations of a royal pleasure are,
and ought to be, to all loyal subjects in the nature and force of
a command . . . Nay, though any King in the world should
command flatly against the law of God, yet were his power no
otherwise at all to be resisted, but (for the not doing of his will
in that which is clearly unlawful) to endure with patience
whatsoever penalty his pleasure should inflict upon them who
in this case would desire rather to obey God than man . . . But
on the other side, if any King shall command that which stands
not in any opposition to tlie original laws of God, nature,
nations and the Gosjiel (though it be not correspondent in
every circumstance to laws national and municipal), no subject
may, without hazard of his own damnation in rebelling against
God, question or disobey the will and pleasure of his Sovereign.
^ Preached at Oatlands, 4 July, 1627.
1627.] Divine right: Non-resistance. 439
... To Kings therefore in all these respects nothing can be
denied (without manifest and sinful violation of law and
conscience) that may answer their royal state and excellency,
that may further the supply of their urgent necessities . . .
The third point is obedience . . . But there be pretenders of
conscience against obedience ; of religion against allegiance ; of
human laws against divine ; of positive against natural; and so
of man's wisdom against the will and wisdom of God . . . First,
if they would please to consider that, though such assemblies
as are the highest and greatest representations of a kingdom be
most sacred and honourable and necessary also for those ends to
which they were at first instituted, yet know we must, that
ordaiued they were not to this end, to contribute any right to
kings whereby to challenge tributary aids and subsidiary helps,
but for the more equal imposing and more easy exacting of that
which unto Kings doth appertain by natural and original law
and justice, as their proper inheritance annexed to their imperial
crowns from their very births. And therefore, if by a magistrate
that is supreme, if upon necessity extreme and urgent, such
subsidiary helps be required ; — a proportion being held respec-
tively to the abilities of the persons charged, and [so that] the
sum or quantity so required surmount not too remarkably the
use and charge for which it was levied : — very hard would it be
for any man in the world, that should not accordingly satisfy
such demands, to defend his conscience from that heavy
prejudice of resisting the ordinance of God and receiving to
himself damnation ; though every of those circumstances be not
observed which by the municipal laws is required \
Beligion and Allegiance, in two sermons , . . hi/ Boger
Maynwaring . . . ed. 1627.
* ' By whom thia doctrine [of the monarchy Jure divind] came at first
to be broached and brought in fashion amongst us, and what sad efiects it
gave rise to, I leave to historians to relate, or to the memory of those who
were contemporaries with Sibthorp and Manwering to recollect.' {Locke,
Of Government, cap. I.)
' There is too much cause to fear that the unhappy publication of this
doctrine against the liberty and property of the subject (which others had
the honour to declare before Mr Hobbea ... I mean Dr Manwaring and
Dr Sibthorpe), contributed too much thereunto [i. e. to the late rebellion]. '
{Clarendon, A Survey of the Leviathan, p. 55.)
APPENDIX.
5 Eliz. Cap. XVIII.
An Act declaring the authority of the Lord Keeper of the Great
Seal of England and the Lord Chancellor to he one.
Where some question hath of late risen, whether like . . . juris-
diction and power doth belong and of right ought to belong to
the office of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England for
the time being, as of right doth and ought to belong to the
office of the Lord Chancellor of England for the time being, or
not : ... Be it enacted . . . That the Common Law of this
realm is and always was . . . that the Keeper of the Great Seal
of England for the time being hath always had and of right
ought to have and from henceforth may have, as of right be-
longing to the office, . . . the same . . . jurisdiction . . . and
advantages as the Lord Chancellor of England for the time
being ... as if the same Keeper of the Great Seal for the time
were Lord Chancellor of England.
Influence of the Crown in Parliamentary Elections,
1570.
The Lords of the Council to Archbishop Parker and Lord
Cohham.
. . . Where the Queen's Majesty hath determined ... to have
a parliament holden at Westminster this next April, . . . her
Majesty hath called to her remembrance . , . that though the
greater number of knights, citizens and burgesses for the more
part are duly and orderly chosen, yet in many places such con-
sideration is not usually had herein as reason would, that is, to
choose persons able to give good information and advice for the
places for which they are nominated, and to treat aiid consult
discreetly upon such matters as are to be propounded to them. . . .
and therefore . . . have we for this purpose made special
choice of your lordships, requiring you ... to confer with the
442 Appendix.
slieriffoftliat shire of Kent . . . and with such special men of live-
lihood and worship of the same county as have interest herein,
and in like manner with the head officers of cities and boroughs,
so as by your good advice and direction tlie persons to be chosen
may be well qualified with knowledge, discretion and modesty,
and meet for those places. . . . 17th Feb. 1570.
Parler Correspondence, pp. 379-381.
Udall's Case : Interpretation of Stat. 23 Eliz. 2.
At live Assizes at Croydon tJie 24th July, 1590.
Mr Udall was called. . . . Then was his indictment read. . . .
The form of which indictment was . . . that he, not having the
fear of God before his eyes, but being stirred up by the instiga-
tion and motion of the Devil, did maliciously publish a slanderous
and infamous libel against the Queen's Majesty, her crown and
dignity. ...
Judge Clarke. — You of the jury have not to enquire whether
lie be guilty of the felony, but whether he be the author of the
book ; for it is already set down by the judgment of all the
judges in the land, that whosoever was author of that book was
guilty by the statute of felony, and this is declared above half
a year agone.
Udall. — Though it be so determined already, yet I pray your
Lordships give me leave to shew . . . that though I were found to
be the author, yet it cannot be within the compass of that statute,
anno 23 Eliz. cap. 2, whereupon the indictment is framed. . . .
Judge Clarke. — We have heard you speak for yourself to this
point at large, which is nothing to excuse you ; for you cannot
excuse yourself to have done it with a malicious intent against
the bishops, and that exercising their government which the
Queen hath appointed them, and so it is by consequence against
the Queen. . . .
Judge Clarke. — This book hath made you to come within
the compass of the Statute, though your intent were not so, for
I am sure there was Mr Stubbs, well known to divers here to
be a good subject and an honest man ; yet taking upon him to
write a book against her Majesty, touching ]\Ionsieur, he thereby
came within the compass of law, which he intended not in
making of. the book ; and ... if this law had been made then,
which was made since, he had died for it. . . .
Udall. — My Lords, his case and mine is not alike, for his
book concerned her Highness' person, but the author of this
Appendix. 443
book toucheth ouly the corruptions of the bishops, and therefore
not the person of her Majesty.
Judye. — But I will prove this book to be against her
^Majesty's i)erson, for her Majesty, being the supreme governor
of all persons and causes in these her dominions, hath established
this kind of government, in the hands of the bishops, which
thou and thy fellows so strive against ; and they being set in
authority for the exercising of this government by her Majesty,
thou dost not strive against them, but her Majesty's person,
seeing they cannot alter the government which the Queen hath
laid upon them . . . ."
State TriaU,\. I'ji-i'jc^.
Taxation by the Commons : Speech of Mr Francis
Bacon, March 3, 1593.
He yielded to the subsidy, but misliked that this house
should join with the upper house in the granting of it. For the
custom and privilege of this house hath always been, first to
make offer of the subsidies from hence, then to the upper
house ; except it were that they present a bill unto this house,
with desire of our assent thereto, and then to send it up again.
And reason it is, that we should stand upon our privilege,
seeing the burthen resteth ujion us, as the greatest number ; nor
is it reason the thanks should be theirs. And in joining with
them in this motion, we shall derogate from ours; for the thanks
will be theirs and the blame ours, they being the first movers.
Wherefore I wish, that, in this action, we should proceed, as
heretofore we have done, apart by ourselves, and not join with
their lordships.
jy^wes Journals, p. 483.
Proclamation of Martial Law, 1595.
Elizabeth by the grace of God, &c. To our trusty and
well-beloved servant. Sir Thomas Willford, Knight, greeting.
Forasmuch as we understand that of late there have been
sundry great unlawful assemblies of a number of base people in
riotous sort, both in our city of London and in the suburbs of
the same and in some other parts near to our said city, for the
suiDpression whereof, although there hath been some proceedings
^ Judgment was given against Udall in Feb. 1591. He was reprieved,
but not pardoned, and died in prison, 1592.
444 Appendix.
in ordiuary manner by the Mayoi- of the said city, and sundry
offenders committed to several prisons, and have also received
corporal punishment by direction and order of our Council in
the Star Chamber at Westminster . . . Yet, for that the in-
solence of many of this kind of desperate offenders is such as
they care not for any ordinary punishment ... we find it neces-
sary to have some such notable, rebellious and incorrigible
persons to be speedily suppressed by execution to death according
to the justice of our martial law; and therefore we have made
choice of you ... to be our Provost-Marshall, giving you
authority, and so we command you, upon signification given to
you by our justices of peace in our city of London or of any
place near to our said city in our counties of Middlesex, Surrey,
Kent and Essex, of such notable and rebellious and incorrigible
offenders worthy to be speedily executed by martial law, to
attach and take the same persons, and in the presence of the
said justices, according to justice of martial law, to execute
them upon the gallows or gibbet openly. . . . And furthermore
we authorize you to repair with a convenient company into all
common highways near to our said city, where you shall under-
stand that any vagrant persons do luiuut, and, calling to your
assistance some convenient number of our justices and constables
abiding about the said places, to apprehend all such vagrant and
suspected persons and them to deliver to the said justices, by them
to be committed and examined of the causes of their wandering,
and finding them notoriously culpable in the unlawful manner of
life, as incorrigible and so certified to you by the said justices,
you shall by our law martial cause to be executed upon the
gallows or gibbet some of them that are so found most notorious
and incorrigible offenders. . . . And this our authority committed
to you to continue in force until that we or our Council shall
signify unto you our pleasure to determine the same. [Dated
July 1 8.] Per breve de Private Sigillo.
Eymers Foedera, XVI. p. 279.
The Canons of 1604.
III. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that the Church of
England by law established under the King's Majesty is not
a true and an apostolical church, teaching and maintaining the
doctrine of the apostles, let him be excommunicated ipso facto
and not restored, but only by the archbishop, after his repent-
ance and public revocation of this his wicked error.
Appendix. 445
IV. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that the form of God's
worship in the Churcli of England, established by law and
contained in the book of Common Prayer and administration of
Sacraments, is a corrupt, superstitions or unlawful worship of
God, or containeth anything in it that is repugnant to the
scriptures, let him be excommunicated ipso facto and not
restored but by the bishop of the place or archbishop. . . .
V. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that any of the nine and
thirty Articles . . . are in any part superstitious or erroneous or
such as he may not with a good conscience subscribe unto, let
him be excommunicated ipso facto and not restored, but only
by the archbishop. . . .
VI. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that the rites and
ceremonies of the Church of England by law established are
wicked, anti-christian or superstitious, or such as. being com-
manded by lawful authority, men who are zealously and godly
affected may not witii any good conscience approve them, use
them, or as occasion requireth subscribe unto them, let him be
excommunicated. . . .
VII. AVhosoever shall hereafter affirm that the government
of the Church of England under his Majesty by archbishops,
bishops, deans, archdeacons and the rest that bear office in the
same, is anti-christian or repugnant to the word of God, let him
be excommunicated. . . .
IX. Whosoever shall hereafter separate themselves from the
communion of saints, as it is approved by the apostles' rules, in
the Church of England, and combine themselves together in
a new brotherhood, ... let them be excommunicated. . . .
XI. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm or maintain that there
are within this realm other meetings, assemblies or congrega-
tions of tlie King's born subjects than such as by the laws of
this land are held and allowed, wliich may rightly challenge to
themselves the name of true and lawful churches, let him be
excommunicated. . . .
XII. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that it is lawful for
any sort of ministers and lay-persons, or either of them, to join
together and make rules, orders or constitutions in causes
ecclesiastical, without the King's autliority, and shall submit
themselves to be ruled and governed by them, let them be
excommunicated ipso facto and not be restored until they
repent and publicly revoke those their wicked and anabaptistical
errors.
Cardwell, Synodalia, I. p. 249.
44^ Appendix.
Judgment op Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, in
Calvin's Case, June, 1608.
. . . Thus I have here delivered mj' concurrence in opinion
with my lords the judges, and the reasons that induce and
satisfy my conscience that Ro. Calvine, and all the post-nati in
Scotland, are in reason and by the common law of England
natural-born subjects within the allegiance of the King of
England, and enabled to purchase and have freehold and in-
heritance of lands in England and to bring real actions for the
same in England.
State Trials, XI. p. ic6.
Jurisdiction op the House op Lords, 1624.
"Whereas this High Court of the Upper House of Parliament
do often find cause in their judicature to impose fines amongst
other punishments upon offenders, for the good example of
justice and to deter others from like offences ; it is ordered and
declared that at the least once before the end of every session,
the committees for the orders of the house and privileges of the
lords of Parliament do acquaint the Lords with all the fines that
have been laid that session. . . .
Standing Orders of the Loi'ds, No. 98 : May, Pari. Practice, p. loi.
INDEX AND GLOSSAEY
The figures in parentheses give the number of sections or paragraphs on the page in
which the subject is referred to. Notices which are to be found by reference to the
Table of Contents are not generally repeated in the Index.
Abjuration of the realm, by recu-
sants, &c., 90, 93, 106.
Absolution, to be limited, 220:
name objected to, 414, 416.
Access, freedom of, 1 1 7, 1 25 : see also
Speaker.
Actuarius (a clerk in a court of
law), 139.
Admiral, powers of an, 163, 397;
of Lord High — , 388 : Vice — ,
165.
Admiralty, Court of, 388.
Admonition to Parliament, the, 198,
245. 247-
Adultery, punished by High Com-
mission, 229, 407, 426; by the
bishops, 375 ; by the Council of
Wales, 383.
Aids, feudal, limitation of, 296 :
levy of, 355.
Aldermen, their powers, 50, 104.
Alehouses, see Inns.
Allegiance, oath of, 259 ; to be ad-
ministered, 258, 262, 266 (2),
273-275: proclamation of, 372,
.^73-
Alms, 70, 186, 187: — houses, 99,
lOI.
Altars, to be removed, 190.
Amercements (properly, a sum ex-
acted from a person ' in the King's
mercy'), assessed by a jury, 345 :
see also Fines.
Anchoragium (duty taken of ships
for the use of a haven), 388.
Apocrypha, not to be read in church,
414, 416.
Apparitors (messengers in ecclesi-
astical courts), complained of, 227,
301.
Apprentices, regulations for, 45-54 :
children of paupers to be bound,
97, 98: of printers, 172 (2): ex-
emptions for, 266.
Archbishops, their powers in general,
see Bishops : of Canterbury and
York, see Canterbury, York : to
approve marriages of bishops,
188 : institution objected to, 196,
197, 199.
Archdeacons, their duties, 19, 188,
201, 204, 209, 364: in convoca-
tion, 190 : objected to, 196, 197,
200, 220, 222.
Aristotle, quoted, 182, 410.
Arms, borne by esquiree, 176: of
recusants, 268, 319.
Arraignment (placing a prisoner at
the bar, properly at the suit of
the crown), 12, 25, 60, 79, 80.
Arrest, freedom from, 117, 1 26-129,
289, 320-325.
Articles of religion, subscription to,
required, 64, 65, 200, 201, 212,
215, 237: some rejected by Par-
liament, 121 : some objected to,
198, 216, 217, 285, 286, 300, 414:
instruction in, 188: based on
scripture, 201, 445 : to be ex-
plained, 285, 417 : sermons to be
confined to, 423.
Artificers, regulations for, 45-54.
Associates, for Bishops, 219: for
ministers, 220.
448
Index.
Association, to protect the Queen,
Attacliment (process for compellin"
appearance in court), issued b)'
Star-Cliainber, 183; by High
Commission, 428, 430.
Attaint (process in treason or felony),
10, 39, 67,77 (2) : (a writ against
a jury for a false verdict', 304.
Attorney-General, his duties, 1 12,
335. 339 : of the North, 369, 375
(4)-
Attorneys, to take oath of supre-
macy, 40.
Babington, Antony, 142.
Bacon, Lord, in parliament, ill,
114, 330: on prophesyings, 207:
impeachment of, 334: in Council
of Wales, 379 : his political opin-
ions, 40S : on taxation, 443.
Bailiffs, of cities and boroughs, their
powers, (uniformity) 19 ; (poor)
42, 43, 69 ; (labourers) 48, 52 ;
(rec'isants) 267.
Bancroft, Richard, Bp. of London,
afterwards Abp. of Cant., issues
Lambeth articles, 226; on Puri-
tans, &c., 247, 421 : in High
Commission, 407 : president of
Convocation, 418.
Banishment, of rogues, 102 : see
also Abjuration.
Bankrupts, disqualified for Parlia-
ment, 280.
Baptism, the cross in, 191, 286, 414 :
by women, 414, 416 : private,
416.
Baronage, estate of, 176.
Barons, how taxed, 34 : not obliged
to take oath of supremacy, 41 :
to take oath of allegiance, 273,
274: right to entertain players,
69, 253 ; judges in Star-Chamber,
180 : see also Peers, Exchequer.
Barony, tenure by, 295.
Barristers, to take oath of supre-
macy, 40.
Barrow, Henry, before the High
Commission, 223.
Bates' case, in the Exchequer, 340 :
in parliament, 297, 342.
Beads, for praying, forbidden, 185,
367.
Beconagium (money paid towards
the maintenance of beacons), 388.
Beggine, allowed, 44, 100, 104:
forbidden, 68, 69, 99, 381 : see
also Rogues.
Benefices, admission to, 64, 216:
patronage of, 266 : poor, to be
increased, 285.
Berwick, under the Council of the
North, 376.
Bible, the, its authority, 204 : to be
re-translated, 417 : to be provided
in each parish, 185.
Births, register of, 186.
Bishops : election, consecration, &c.,
197, 242 : institution attacked,
197-199, 216-221, 225 (2), 414,
416 ; defended, 246, 445 : to take
oatli of supremacy, 6 : to administer
the oath, 40, 85 (2^, and of alle-
giance, 273 : ordination of minis-
ters, licences, &c., 65 (2), 185,
192, 193, 194, 200 (3), 424; con-
trol over clergy, 64, 204, 205,
206, 406 : to maintain uniformity,
17, 18 (2), 19, 208, 209 (2), 445 :
secular duties (poor), 43 (3), 384 ;
(subsidy) 55 ; (military) 160-162 ;
(censorship) 188: powers against
recusants and sectaries, 63, 85
(2\ 90, 258 (2), 274, 364, 417:
powers to be reduced, 196-199,
216-221, 225 (2), 414, 416 : their
slackness, 221, 424: conferences
of, with the Commons, 121, 210 :
vestments, and marriage of, 188 :
tenure by barony, 295 : power to
imprison, 206 : special powers in
High Commission, 234 (2% 239,
433 (2), 435 : see also Ordinaries.
Blackmail, on Scotch Border, 105.
Blackstone, on prerogative, 410.
Bondmen, see Villains.
Books, Popish, 267, 308, 417, 422 :
seditious, 78, 228, 30S, 382, 395,
427 : see also Press.
Borders, Scotch, see North Parts :
Welsh, see Wales.
Borough, an administrative district,
(poor-law), 42, 43, 44, 72, 73 ;
(vagabonds) 68, 69, 70 ; (appren-
tices, &-C.), 46, 47, 48, 52, 53 ;
(penal laws) 77 (2), 80, 267 :
privileges of, 35, 277, 289.
Index.
449
Boston, salt-tiade in, 114.
Bowing at the name of Christ, ob-
jected to, 414.
Bracton, references to, 115, 121,
409.
Branding, for rogues, 68, 254.
Breviary (a book containing the
services used in the Roman churcli
at the different hours), to be de-
stroyed, 267.
Bribery, in elections, 132 : judicial,
381.
Bristol, Bp. of, see Thomborough.
Britain, Great, name adopted, 393.
Brown, Robert, 211, 224, 2qi.
Burghley, Lord, in trial of Q. Mary,
141: a J. P., 144: principal secre-
tary, 159, 168: Treasurer, 173:
his policy towards Puritans, 213.
Burglary, 74, 362, 380.
Burials, register of, 186.
Cambipartium (champarty, 3'. v.),
362.
Candles (used as offerings), for-
bidden, 185.
Canons, ecclesiastical, subject to
King's approval, 417-419: see
aho Prebendaries.
Canterbury, Abp. of, his powers,
to determine vestments, 20 : eccle-
siastical taxation, 161 (2\ 163,
360 : censorship of the press, 1 70-
172, 188, 395: licences to preach-
ers, 185, 424.
— , province of, ^•ee Convocation.
Cap, square, to be used, 188, 194 :
objected to, 414.
Capitium (a cap used as livery\
145-
Carlisle, place of meeting for C. of
North, 367 : a fortress, 376.
Carta, Magna, customs-duties in,
.^43, 348.
Cartwright, Thomas, 196, 223, 247.
Castle-Guard (the obligation upon
tenants, by virtue of their tenure,
to provide for the garrison of
a castle), 295.
Catechism, to be taught, 188 : one
only to be used, 417.
Cathedrals, act of uniformity to be
observed in, 16, 18: ordinances
for, 36, 233, 433 : vestments in,
193 : see also Deans, Prebend-
aries.
Cecil, Sir Robert, Princ. Secretary,
115, 361; Treasurer, 353; in
parliament, 115.
— , Sir William, see Burghley.
Censorship, see Press.
Censures, ecclesiastical, under Act
of Uniformity, 18, 20 : in general,
261, 383, 421 : inflicted by High
Commission, 304, 405, 430.
Ceremonies, see Rites.
Champarty (a bargain made with
a party to a suit, to have a share
in the thing sued for in case of
success), forbidden, 38 1.
Chancel, communion-table to be in
the, 190.
Chancellor, Lord High, powers of,
(oaths) 8, 40, 262, 273, 280 ;
(taxes) 30, 31, 34, 355, 356, 358,
360 ; (wages) 48 ; (rogues) 102 ;
(^parliamentary privilege) 128,
129, 130 (3), 290; (villains) 174:
memberof Star-Chamber, 175, 180
(3), 182, 403 : see also Chancery.
— of the Exchequer, see Exche-
quer.
— , diocesan, jurisdiction of, 19,
201, limited, 424, objected to,
196, 199, 218, 220, 415.
Chancery, Court of, subsidy com-
missioners named in, 31 : writs
issued from, (elections) 288 ;
(habeas corpus) 321; (rebellion)
374 : returns made into, (elec-
tions) 281, 287, 288, 326, 328;
(wages) 48, 49 ; (recusants) 235,
236 : gifts of land registered in,
103 : right to subpoena a M.P.,
129 : injunctions issued by, 385 :
compared with Star-Chamber,
408 : see also Chancellor.
— , inns of, 40.
Chantries, annexation of, 37, 38.
Chaplains, taxed, 163 : assistants
to Bishops in ordination, 216.
Chapters of Cathedrals, collectors of
subsidy, 55 : in Convocation, 190:
associates to Bishops, 416 : see
aim Deans.
Chester, exercises in, 2c6 : Chief
Justice of, 379 (2), 380.
Chirographia (covenants), 389.
Gg
45°
Index.
Church, parish, see Parish : — yards,
185, 426 : disturbances in, 228,
426: attendance at, see Recusants.
Churchwardens, their duties, (poor)
17, 42 (2), 43 (2), 72, 96, 97 f3 \
98 (4), 99 (3), 103, 187; (recu-
sants) 91, 256, 261, 274 ; (care of
churche>'), 186.
Citations, Act of, revived, 2 : general,
227.
Classes, of the people, 176 : Presby-
terian, 248.
Clergy, benefit of, curtailed, 66,
78, 84, 90, &c., abolished, 57,
74 : trial of, 74 : taxation of.
54, 137, 161 : marriage of, regu-
lated, 187, recognized, 229, legal-
ized, 253, 414: to take oath of
supremacy, 403: *ceaZso Ministers.
Clerk, of the crown, 320, 321, 325,
326, 328 : of H. of Commons, 327 :
of the peace, 257.
Coinage, in King's power, 340, 342.
Coiners, punished by J.P.'s, 144.
Coke, Sir Edward , A ttorney-General,
326 ; in parliament, 333, 334 :
his defence of Star-Chamber, 401 :
attack on High Commission, 404.
Collectors, of subsidy, 28, 34, 35,
55 : of alms for poor, 42, 43 : of
poor-rate. 70, 73 (2) : for houses
of correction, 74.
Commendams (properly the tempo-
rary holding of a benefice till a
clerk can be found for it, often
■ abused by being made permanent),
objected to, 414.
Commissaries (ecclesiastical judges
exercising jurisdiction under a
Bishop or his chancellor), their
jurisdiction, 9, 19, 364 ; regulated,
201, 424; objected to, 197, 199,
217, 218.
Commi.ssion, High : for powers in
general, see the various commis-
sions, 227-242,424-435: origin,
6 : authority confirmed, 261, 364,
11°, 375 ; impugned, 225, 302-
305, 404: to be reformed, 417:
powers, (heresy) 12 ; (vestments)
20 ; (deprivation) 64 ; (censor-
ship of the press) 168, 169, 171,
172, 189, 394; (ecclesiastical
discipline, &j.) 192, 194; (sub-
Bcription to the Articles) 64, 198 ;
(examination by oath) 217, 223:
superseded by Convocation when
sitting, 435.
Common lands, poor-houses to be
built on, 98 : wrongful enclosure
of, 371.
— law, see Law.
— Pleas, court of, monopolies tried
in, 112 : collides with High Com-
mission, 407 (2) : its province,
408 : Justices of, see Justices.
Commons, House of: rights of, in
general, 289,443; petitions of, 107,
215, 296, 302, 307, 311, 327:
protests of, 313, 339 : warrants of,
320. 321, 331, 332, 333: com-
mittees of, 114, 117, 118, 328,
330, 331, 333.334: judicature of,
280, 283, 337 : conferences of,
(with the Lords) 329, 335, 338
(2); (with tlie Judges) 330: con-
trol over expenditure, 279-280 :
a court of record, 287, 288. 329,
33°) 338 '• members of, to take
oath of supremacy, 41 ; to name
collectors of subsidy, 29 : see alio
Parliament, Privilege.
Commonwealth (use of the word),
106, 112, 113, 119, 174, 177, 224.
351-
Communion, Holy, regulations for,
190, 193 : used as a test, 256,
264, 266, 267, 273, 274 (2), 417 :
kneeling in, 191 : to be preceded
by examination, 414.
Comortlies (Welsh, cymhorth ; as-
sistance or contribution, appar-
ently a Welsh form of ' mainten-
ance') forbidden, 381.
Companies, trading, exemptions to,
277.
Compter, prison of the, 324.
Concilium, iNIagnum, all peers mem-
bers of, 403.
Concionat'ires (preachers), 201, &c.
Confirmation, objected to, 414 :
name to be changed, 416.
Conspiracy, statutes against, 65, 66 ;
punished by J.P.'s, 145 ; High
Commission, 228 ; Justices of O.
and T., 362 ; C. of Wales, 381.
Constable?, High, to collect poor-
relief, 100 : petty, their duties,
Index.
451
(subsidy) 31, 33, 34; (labourers)
47. 49; (poor) 70, 99; (rogues)
254, 272; (recusants') 256, 274:
under control of J.P.'s, 145, 146,
148.
Contract, the Great, 291, 295, 298,
299, 300.
Contumacy, 218, 416.
Conventicles, forbidden, (Puritan)
89,91, 208, 211 (2); (Papist) 308;
(in general) 145, 14S, 362, 425.
Convocation ; its powers, (heresj')
12 ; (taxative) 35, 54, 137; (con-
sultative) 424 : subordinate to
parliament, 424 : summons to,
190 : licence to, 417 : upper
house of, to act for High Com-
mission, 435 : of York, to follow
Canterbury, 56.
Cope, Mr., sent to the Tower, 124.
Copes, when to be used, 193.
Copia curiae (copy of court-roll, copy-
hold), 174.
Copyholders, 174, 177, 267.
Corodies (dues paid by a religious
house to a benefactor), 30.
Corporations, (bodies politic or cor-
porate), taxed, 29, 30 : schools
under, 76 : lands of, 94 : patents
to, 112, 115; see also Boroughs.
Correction, houses of, 73 (3), 98,
100, 103, 271, 272.
Council, Privy ; powers; — adminis-
trative, (^ wages) 49 ; (penal laws)
62, 274; (vagabonds, &c.) 102;
(national defence) 157, 158, 160,
161 (3^), 162, 164, 279, 396; (cen-
sorship of press) 168, 169, 188;
(ecclesiastical) 185, 206, 241, 370,
421 ; (oaths') 262, 273 ; (licences)
85, 26?, 266; judicial, 81, 82,
102, 167, l8t, 182 (3), 371, 401 ;
penal, 102, 206, 274, 368 ; sujier-
visory, 37i,374> 375> 382, 399;
deliberative, 1 8 1, 1 84, 330 (3), 425;
taxative, 134 : sitting in the Star-
Chamber, 168, 169, 374 : members
oftheStar ChamberCourt, 175, 180
(4), 182, 183, 401, 403, 408, 444:
in p;irliament, 118: nominated
by the crowti, 179 : specially pro-
tected, 368: oath of, 165 : peti-
tions to, 431, 432 : minute-book
of, 167.
G
Council for war, 279, 280, 396: of
the North, or Wales, *'ee North
Parts, Wales.
Counsel, Queen's, cases referred to,
126, 167.
Court-rolls (records of judicial pro-
ceedings in a manorial court),
174. 267.
Courts, ecclesiastical, their jurisdic-
tion objected to, 225: bill to
reform them, 286 : their dilatori-
ness, 415 : see Chancellors, Com-
missaries, &c.
Cumberland, exemption for weavers
in, 52 : see also North Parts.
Curates, to be examined before ad-
mission, 216 : see also Ministers.
Curtesy, tenure by (the tenure by
which a husband holds his wife's
lands after her death, if he has
issue by her), 265.
Customs duties, their origin, 26,
349 : due by common law, 343 :
an ancient revenue of the crown,
25, 26, 340.
Custos Rotulorum (an officer ap-
pointed to keep Quarter Session
records), 149.
Deanery (rural), exercises holden in,
207.
Deans, of Cathedrals, collectors of
sub.sidy, 55 : in Convocation, 190:
vestments of, 193 : residence,
200 : jurisdiction, 209, 222 : asso-
ciates for bishops, 416 : taxation
of, 54, 162.
Degradation (ecclesiastical), power
of, limited, 416.
Deme.sne, ancient, holders of, taxed
for subsidy, 30.
Deodanda (things or animals for-
feited for having caused the death
of some one), 388.
Deprivation, of ministers, for noncon-
formity, 15, 19, 421 ; for not sub-
scribing to the Ait'cle.«, 64, 217,
301 ; vestments, 286 ; simony,
187 : appeal against, 304.
Discipline, the Book of, 245, 247-
249.
Dismes, see Tenths.
Dispensing power (penal laws), 275,
276, 308 : (general) J79.
2
452
Index.
Distress, poor-rate levied by, 97, 99 :
fines for absence from church,
261,
Dublin Castle, Court of Castle
Chamber in, 151.
Durliam, Bishopric of, exempted
from subsidy, 36 : black-mailing
in, 105 : subject to C. of the
North, 376 (2).
Edward I, II, III, loans of, 347,
348-
— VI, vestments used under, 20;
schools founded by, 36, 233 :
prayer-book of, 13, 14: form of
ordination under, 64.
Egerton, Thomas, Lord Ellesmere ;
Lord Keeper, 240: Chancellor,
252, 358, 361, 446-
Elders, parochial, 220, 224, 248,
435-
^Election (parliamentary), freedom
of, interfered with, 280, demanded
288, 289, 290 : for Bucks 289,
325, Cambridge 333. Cardigan
331, Norfolk 130, Shrewsbury
331, Westbury 132: Writs for,
33ij 333 • *^^ ^'^'-o Returns.
— (episcopal), 242.
Elizabeth, Queen ; her answers to
petitions of Parliament, 109, iii,
124 : messages to parliament, 1 18,
119, 120(2), 121, 124, 125, 209,
210 : proclamations of, 1S3, 20S :
on prophesyings, 205 : ecclesiastical
policy, 221, &c.
— , daughter of James I, her mar-
riage, 355-
Embracery (an attempt to influence
a jury corruptly), forbidden, 150,
381.
Enclosures, see Common Lands.
English language, in church, 184,
185.
Engrossers (wholesale dealers,
blamed for holding up goods to
increase their price), to be pun-
ished, 381 ; cf. Forestallers,
Regraters.
Equity, to be regarded by J.P.'s,
46, 53 ; by C. of Wales, 384 :
basis of dispensing power, 179.
Erasmus, Paraphrases of, to be
used, 185.
E.scheators (officers, one in each
county, appointed to look after
estates, &c., escheated to the
king), to take oath of supremacy,
40; their duties, 244, 356.
Escheats (estates falling in to the
lord by death or felony of the
tenant), to be maintained, 296.
Escuage (or scutage, a fine for not
following the King in war),
amount of, fixed by Parliament,
34:-
Esquires, what they are, 1 76.
Estates of the realm, defined, 409.
Eton College, exempted from sub-
sidy, 36.
Excambia (exchanges), 389.
Exchequer, Court of, ecclesiastical
valuation in, 55 : monopolies tried
in, 112: bill to reform it, 124:
certificates of fines, &c., made into,
231, 364.433 : Bates' case in, 297 ;
opposed to High Commission, 407 :
pleas about revenue in, 403.
— , Receipt of, fines paid into, 88 (3),
257 : taxes paid into, 28, 358.
— , Chancellor of, to name commis-
sioners for aids, 55, 356.
— , Chief Baron of, on judicial com-
missions, 82, 141; his censorship
of the press, 172 ; not a judge in
Star-Chamber, 403.
— , Barons of, on C, of the North,
365 ; not in Star-Chamber, 403.
Excommunication, regulations for,
201 (3), 222 ; abuses of, 210,
218 (2), 301, 414, 41 5, 446 : to be
reformed, 220: to be abolished,
416 ; effect of, 265, 301.
Exercises, 202-208 : approved, 218,
248.
Exhibitions, at the Universities,
186.
Expulsion, parliamentary right of,
150, 381.
Fealty, see Homage.
Felony, offences against the crown
made, 66, 67, 78 (2), 79 ; of re-
cusants, 84, 90, 260 ; of vaga-
bonds, 68, 69, 102 ; of black-
mailers, 106 : to be tried before
King's Bench, 79; Justices of 0.
Index.
453
and T., 362 ; C. of the North,
375 (with exceptions, 370) ; C. of
Wales, 380 ; Justices of Peace,
145, 146, 148 : challenge to jury
in cases of, 79.
Feoda (fees), 143, &c.
Feodaries (officers of the court of
wards, ajipointed in every county
to look after the feudal rights of
the crown), 40, 356.
Feudal rights, of the King, 179 ;
demand for commutation of, 291,
295) 299 : object of, 345 : value
of. 345 : origin of, 292 : see Aids,
Great Contract.
Field, Theoph., Bp. of Llandaff, im-
peached, 334.
Fifteenths and Tenths, defined, 175 :
process of lev} ing, 28, 29, 279.
Fines and Forfeitures, for neglect of
duty, 49, 97, 104, 272 : for re-
fusal of office, 70, 74, 100 : em-
ployed in poor- relief, 72, 76, 237,
261, in allowances toJ.P.'s, 53:
arbitrary, 86 : not arbitrary, 306,
344 : wrongly remitted, 275 :
land seized instead of, 257 : an
alternative for pillory &c. 77 (2) :
inflicted by H. of Lords, 336 ; H.
of Commons, 132 (2), 337; Star-
Chamber, 181 ; High Commission,
230, 430, disputed 404-407 : see
also Kecusants, Labourei's, &c.
First- Fruits (profits of an ecclesias-
tical benefice for the first year,
payable to the crown), restored to
the crown, 22 : allowed for, 55.
Fish, royal, 388 ; preservation of,
390-
Fleet prison, 183, 289, 290, 321.
Flotson (or flotsam, things found
floating on the sea), 388.
Floyde, Sir R., expelled the House,
333- .
Force (illegal violence), punished by
C. of North, 375 ; by Star-Cham-
ber, 408.
Foreign policy, discussed in parlia-
ment, «ee Palatinate, Spanish
Match.
Forest, law of the, maintained, 340 :
poaching in, forbidden, 381.
Forestallers (persons who bought
up goods before they came into
the market, cf. Engrossers, Ee-
graters), to be punished, 145, 148,
381.
Forgery, punished by Star-Chamber
and Castle-Chamber, 152; C. of
North, 374; C. of Wales, 381.
ForisFactuia (foi-feiture), 149.
Fortescue, Sir John, in the Bucks
election, 325-333.
Franchises (privileges or exemptions
from ordinary jurisdiction), 69, 87.
Frank-bank (a widow's interest in
her husband's lands, preserved by
special custom), 265.
Freedom, original, of all men, 173.
Galleys, rogues condemned to the,
102.
Gaol-Delivery, Justices of, see Jus-
tices.
Gaolers, under supervision of J.P.'s,
145, 146, 14S.
Gaols, prisoners in, 99 : see Compter,
Fleet, Marshalsea.
Garter King at Arms, 139.
Geneva, church of; its influence in
England, 195, 224.
Gentlemen, wliat they are, 176, 177.
Goodwin, Sir Francis, 289, 325-331.
Governors of the poor, 73 (2).
Greenwood, John, before the High
Commission, 223.
Grindal, Edmond, Bp. of London,
and High Commissioner, 169, 194,
227, 232; Abp. of Canterbury, 237:
his partiality to Puritans, 204.
Guernsey, see Jersey.
Habeas Corpus, writ of, 322 : granted
against High Commission, 407.
Hack well (or Hake well), Mr., n^
342.
Hall, Arthur, 128, 131.
Handiciafts, list of regulated, 51 :
exemptions for, 263.
Harding, Thomas, 194.
Harrison, Richard, 211.
Hatton, Sir Christopher, hated by
Puritans, 176.
Henry VII, strengthens the Star-
Chamber, 175.
Henry VIII, schools founded by, 36,
233-
Heresy, what is not to be deemed,
454
Index.
12 (2) : powers concerning, dele-
gated to High Commission, 6,
228, 229, 425 ; disputed, 405.
Heriot (the best beast, due on the
death of a tenant to the lord of
the m;inor), to be retained, 296.
Highways, repair of, out of alms,
187.
Holidays, to be observed, 185, 186,
188 : enforced by High Com-
mission, 406, 407 : Puritan objec-
tions to, 191, 414.
Homage, of a bishop, 243 : to be
abolished, 295.
Homilies, to be read in church, 187,
193-
Hospitals, exempt from subsidy, 36 :
rate for, 99, 100 : permission to
erect, 103.
Househokk-rs, responsibility of, 91,
26 T : overseers of poor chosen
from, 96, 103 ; to subscribe to
the Articles, 285.
Hull, salt-trade of, 114.
Hundred, the, a district for collec-
tion of subsidy, 29, 31, 33, 35;
for poor -relief, 70, 97, 98 : labour-
ers not to depart from, 47 : police
responsibility of, 86, 87.
Husbandry, regulations for sei"vants
in, 46-52 : protection of, 93-96,
37i> 376.
Images, to be destroyed, 1S6.
Impeachment, 279, 280, 334-336.
Impositions (additional taxes on im-
ports), arguments against, 296,
302, 340-355-
Impressment (of mariners, &c.),
390. 397-
Imprisonment, power of, given to
High Coniniission, 230 (2), 427,
428, 429 : impugned, 404.
Impropriations (the profits of eccle-
siastical benefices in the hands of
laymen), taxation of, 104, 414.
Independents, 21 1, 223, 224, 291,
445-
Indictment (a criminal charge made,
at the suit of the crown, by
the grand jury, 11, 12, 39, 80,
145, 378, &c, Cf Presentment.
Infants (persons under 21), not
taxed for bequests, 36.
Injunctions, the Queen's, confirmed,
172, 192, 194, 212, 242, 375, 386.
— (prohibitions to other courts),
issued by Chancery, 385 ; by
Council of Wales, 385.
Inns, under control of J.P.'s, 145,
146,148 ; of Council of Wales, 38 1.
Inquest of office (an enquiry by
jurors specially impanelled), 68.
Ireland, exempted from subsidy, 35 :
Star-Chamber in, 1 50 : Under-
takers in, 166 : measures for re-
tention of, 278, 318, 354, 396:
schools and preachers in, 416.
J ames I, his proclamations, 2 80, 3 1 4,
392, 394> 395> 420 : his messages
to Parliament, 296, 310, 312, 326,
33°) 334 • speeches, 282, 291, 293 :
policy towards Puritans, 283,420;
towards Papists, 283-285, 422 :
letter about preachers, 422 : coro-
nation oath, 391 : views of the
prerogative, 399, and above,
jiaHsim.
Jersey and Guernsey, exempted from
subsidy, 35.
Jesuits, banished, 84 : punished by
death, 85: colleges of, 84: sub-
mission of, 85 : persons suspected
of being, 93 : their activity, &c.,
260, 308 : execution of laws
against, demanded, 300, 319, 320.
Journals of Parliament, an official
record, 130.
Judges, not to be papists, 6, 264:
opinions of, 126, 326 {2): not
superior to parliament, 1 30, 290 :
conference with parliament, pro-
posed, 326, 330 (2) : subordinate
to crown, 399, 40S : cases recom-
mended to, by Star-Chamber, 167:
appointment of, 143 : to assess
fines, 345 (2).
Jury, trial by, allowed under Act of
Supremacy, 1 5 : for sedition, 79 (2) ;
robbery, 57; felony, 79; on the
Borders, 2 70 ; before High Com-
mission, 228, 233, 303, 304;
Justices ofO.andT., 361 ; Justices
of Peace, 145, 14S ; Admiralty,
390 ; C. of North, 369 : rebuked
for wrong verdicts, 180: parlia-
mentary exemption from, 12.
Index.
455
Justices, Chief, on special judicial
commissions, 82, 141 ; in Star-
Chamber, 180, 403 : their censor-
sliip of the press, 172.
— of King's Bench, jurisdiction of,
79, 261 : cases referred to, by
J.P.'s, 147 : see King's Bencli.
— of Common Pleas, cases referred
to, 147 : see Common Pleas.
— of Assize, Oyer and Terminer,
and Gaol Delivery, commissions
to, 361, 363 : their jurisdiction
(papists and recusants) 18 (2),
40, 76, 91, 261; (sedition) 79;
(husbandry) 94, 96 ; (borders)
106, 270, 271 : doubtful cases
referred to, by J.P.'s, 147 ; by
C. of North, 371.
— of the Peace, their powers : (a)
judicial — 2 or more Justices —
(servants) 46 ; (vagabonds), 102 :
3 or more — (vagabonds and poor)
72 : 4 or more — (apprentices, &c.)
53 (2) : in Quarter Sessions —
(recusants, &c.) 40, 76, 90, 257,
258, 274; (husbandry, &c.) 96;
(vagabonds) 102 ; (borders) 106,
271 ; (proclamations) 306 :
quorum required, 53, 72, 102, 146.
(i) administrative — i or more —
(licences to beg) 102 ; (appren-
tices, &c.) 52, 53 ; 2 or more —
(poor) 43, 44, 96 (2) ; (licences
to beg), 69 (2) ; (certificate of
poverty) 384 ; (allowance of
parsons' wives) 187 ; (seai'ch of
houses) 267 ; (poor) 43, 44, 69,
70, 96 (2), 97, 99, 104; (appren-
tices, &c.) 49, 53 : 3 or more —
(vagabonds) 71 : 4 or more —
(licences to travel) 264 ; (arms
of recusants) 268 : in Quarter
Sessions — (wages) 48, 49; (poor)
72,73,97, 98, 100; (husbandry)
96; (vagabonds) loi, 272: quo-
rum required, 96, 104, 258, 273,
274: (administration of oaths),
1 Justice, 85, 90, 266, 274,
2 Justices, 85, 258, 273, 274 : (dis-
covery of recusants) 185,262, 364:
(certificates of recusancy) 75 :
(c) penal — (power of committal)
I Justice — sedition, 79,80(2), S6 ;
servants, &c., 52; recusants, 261,
274 ; vagabonds, 68 : 2 Justices —
poor-law, 44, 97, 98, 99 ; labourers,
49, 50, 71 ; vagabonds, 102 ; recu-
sants, 258, 274: (branding) 68;
(banishment, galleys) 102 ;
(death) 106: (levy of finest 261.
Fines on, for negltct of duty, 49,
104, 272, 374 : allowances to, 53 :
subordinate to High Commission,
232, 23S ; to C. of North, 374, 376 :
to take oath of supremacy, 6 :
general importance of, 1 79.
Keeper, Lord, 441 : see also Chan-
cellor.
King, aee Prerogative, &c.
King's Bench, certificates of sedition
or recusancy to be made into, 40,
41. 75. 239, 433: prison of, 99:
subordinate to Parliament, 352 :
pleas in, 401, 408 : collides with
Higli Commission, 407 : see also
Justices.
Knighthood, distraint of (fine for
declining knighthood), 133, 176.
Knights, how made, 176, 177.
Knight-service, aid fnjm lands held
by, 355> 356, 3.=;7: to be taken
away, 291, 295, 296.
Labourers, regulations for, 45-54 :
their position in the state, 177:
see also Justices of Peace.
Lngon (or lagan, things found sunk
in the sea), 388.
Lancashire, exemption for weavers
in, 52.
Lancaster, Duchy of ; its liberties in
Wales, 380.
Lastage (pa3'ment for ballast or
lading of a ship), 388.
Law, Common, the succession deter-
mined by, 59 : monopolies, &c.
tried by, iii, 276 : customs, fines,
&c., limited by, 343-345 : recu-
sants not to practise in, 40, 264 :
bills expository of, invalid, 115:
censorship of books on, 172 :
defects of, supplied by Star-
Chamber, 181 : defined, 341 : its
basis, 349.
— , ecclesiastical, to be followed, 30,
217, 3S3 : fine and imprisonmtnt
not inflicted by, 406.
45^
Index.
Law, mai-tial (or marshall), executed
by Lords Lieutenant, 154, 155,
admirals, 164, 397. mayor of
Dover, 398: when allowed, 176,
179: commissions of, 398, 443.
— , statute, may be dispensed with,
III.
— , forest, how imposed, 340.
— , civil, and maritime, in Admiralty
Court, 389.
Lecturers, to be ordained, 200 :
taxed, 360 : liow to be licensed,
424.
Leet, Court, its powers, 411,
Legalis homo, defined, 177.
Legislative power, behmgs to parlia-
ment, 178, 290: claimed by the
crown, 400.
Libels, against religion, punished by
High Commission, 426, 427.
Liberatae de unica secta (liveries of
one cut or fashion), forbidden, 145.
Litany, the, to be used, 1 84.
Literae partitae (= carta partita,
charter-party, a contract between
a ship-owner and a merchant),
389-
Liturgy, condemned by Puritans,
211, 223 : see also Prayer-Book.
Livery (tlie retention of bodies of
servants by the gift of coats or
other badges), punishable by
J.P.'s, 144, C. of Noi-th, 369, C.
of Wales, 382, 386.
Llandaff, Bishop of, see Field.
London, exemptions for, 47, 54, 170,
172, 277: customs of, touching
apprentices, 50 : aldermen of, to
act as J.P.'s, 104: Recorder of,
129: vagrants in, 229: recusants
expelled frou), 263 : martial law
in, 443-
— , Bishop of, his duties in ecclesi-
astical taxation, 161 : censorship
exercised by, 171, 172, 188, 395.
Lords, House of, its jurisdiction,
280, 334-336, 337-339, 446 : pri-
vileges, 126, 128: see also Peers.
— Lieutenant, to aid in collecting
loans, 134, 135: military duties,
154-
Ludlow, place of meeting for Council
of Wales, 380.
Lynn, salt-trade of, 114.
Maiming, punished by J.P.'s, 145,
148.
Maintenance (the unlawful uphold-
ing of a suit at law), forbidden,
145. 150. 362, 374, 381, 408.
Maisons de dieu (hospitals^ 103.
Majestas laesa (high treason), 141.
Malvesey, tax on, 25.
Manors, lords of, their control of
waste lands, 98.
Mansion-hou«es, of recusants, 258.
Manslaugiiter, 254, 362.
Manuals (books containing occa-
sional services for the use of
priests), to be destroyed, 267.
Marches, Lords Wardens of the,
376 : Scotch, see North Parts :
Welsli, see Wales.
Market-towns, labourers in, 51 (2),
52 : work-houses in, 72, 73 : pro-
clamations to be made in, 49, 102,
373 : pillory in, 77.
Marque, letters of (permission of
reprisal granted by the Lord
Chancellor), 268.
Marriage ; of clergy, see Clergy : of
recusants, 265 : the ring in, 414 :
without banns, 415 : feudal rights
over, 179, 295 : causes concernmg,
in High Commission, 432, 433:
register of, to be kept, 186.
Marshal, Knight (Marshal of the
Household), duty of, 100.
Marshalsea, contributions for prison-
ers in, 99.
Mary, Q. of England, schools founded
by, 36, 233 : monasteries refounded
by, 37- ,
— , Q. of Scotland, petition against,
109 : trial of, 140.
Mass, penalty for saying or hearing,
75-
Master of the Horse, duty of, 133.
Masters of colleges, their marriages
regulated, 188.
Mayors, to take oath of supremacy,
6: jurisdiction — Act of Uni-
formity, 1 9 ; servants, &c., 46, 50,
53 : administrative powers — poor-
law, 42 (2), 43, 69, 70, 72 (2),
98 ; wages, 48 ; recusants, 267 :
power of committal — poor-law,
43, 44, 69 ; servants, 50, 53 ;
vagabonds, 63 ; sedition, 80 :
Index.
457
allowances to, 53 : acting as
J.P.'s, 80, &c. ; as returning
officers, 332 : subordinate to
J.P.'s, 145,146,100. of North, 374.
Merchants, taxed for tonnage and
poundage, 26 : apprentices of, 50,
51 : exemptions for (penal laws),
85, 266 ; (patents), 277 : their
political inferiority, 177.
Messuagium (a dwelling-house, with
or without land adjacent), 173.
Metropolitan, of the realm to deter-
mine vestments, 20.
Mines, to pay poor-rate, T04.
Ministers of state, to take oath of
supremacy, 6.
— of religion, to take the oath, 6 :
general duties of, 13-21, 184-189,
191-194; (poor)42(2), 43(2), 104;
(recusants) 90, 91 (2), 185, 274,
417 : exemptions from taxation,
56 : subscription to Articles, 64,
212, &c. : want of learning in,
186, 188, 200, 210, 215, 291, 416 :
not to be without cure of souls,
197 : see Clergy, Uniformity.
Missal (mass-book), jirayer-book de-
rived from, 198: to be destroyed,
267.
Moderators, of exercises, 204 : of
synods, 221.
Monopolies, discussed, 1 11-117:
abolished, 276.
Murder, 375,^ 380, 397,
Music, ecclesiastical, to be reformed,
414.
Muster-masters, 155 : frauds in, 382 :
• — book, 167.
Mutilation, penalty for sedition, 77 :
inflicted by C. of North, 368 ; by
Star-Chamber, 403.
Mutiny, punishable by martial law,
397-
Navy, special provision for, 278, 318,
396 : government of, .«ee Admiral.
Netherlands, the, treaties with, &c.,
166 : assistance to, 278, 318, 396.
Newcastle-on-Tyne, exempted from
subsidy, 36 ; castle of, 376 :
meeting- place for C. of North,
367-
Non obstante (a clause inserted in
writs, &c. by which the prohibitive
action of a statute or other order
was barred), 112, 114.
Nonconformists, see Puritans.
Non-residenue, see Residence.
North Parts, the, exempted from
subsidy, 36 : measures for keeping
order in, 105, 269, 270: schools
and preachers in, 416 : recusants
in, 62.
— , President and Council in, com-
mission to, 363 : secretary to know
about, 166: procedure of, 214.
Northamptonshire, Puritans in, 202,
248.
Northumberland, see North Parts.
Norwich, industrial exemptions for,
52, 54: exercises in, 202.
Notary public (a person appointed
by authority to attest deeds, &c.),
236.
Novelists (Puritans), 283.
Oath, of allegiance or supremacy,
see Allegiance, Supremacy : coro-
nation, 391,410: corporal (taken
by laying the hand on the IJible),
7, 8 (2), 40, 166, 273, before High
Commission, 230, 429 (2).
— , ex officio (administered by an
official by virtue of his office,
specially used of the oath ad-
ministered to persons accused be-
fore the High Commission), at-
tacked, 213, 217, 225,303,415;
defended, 214: before admission
to a benefice, &c., 216.
Officers, of army or navy, not to be
recusants, 264.
Ordinances, made by the crown,
400 : instances, 16S, 169.
Ordinaries (ecclesiastical judges
having authority of their own
right, not delegated), their juris-
diction— (Act of Uniformity) 19,
20; (poor) 43(2); (ordination)
64, 65(2); (recusants) 75, 91,
185; (censorship) 188; (morals)
375. 383: to be aided by High
Commission, 430, 431 : to have
associates, 219.
Ordination, regulations touching, 40,
65, 193, 200: Puritan demands
concerning, 215, 216, 285, 414,
416.
458
Index.
Ordnance, Master of the, 396.
Organs, to be abolished, 191.
Ornaments (ecclesiastical), deter-
iiiiin d, 20 : exempted from tax-
ation, 30.
Oustre le main (the delivery of an
escheated estate ' out of the King's
liand' to the rightful claimant), 8,
296.
Outlawry, disijualification for par-
liament, 127, 1 28, 281, 325: not
a disijuaiitication, 131, 329:
penalty for refusal to surrender,
146, 148.
Overseers, of the poor, 70, 71, 96,
97 (4)> 98 (4)1 99> i°4 • of houses
of correction, 73,
Palatinate, the, negotiations about,
27S, to be broken off, 317,318:
aid for, 309, 315, 359, 360.
Papers, wearing of (a penalty), 337,
368, 3S2, 403.
Papists, see Kecusants.
Pardon, King's right of, 342 : from
Rome, 63.
Parish, administrative district —
(Act of Supremacy) 1 7 ; (taxation)
35; (poor) 42, 44(2% 70, 72, 96,
97, 98(2), 99(4), 103, 104(2),
186, 187 ; (rogues) 101 ; (recu-
sants) 256; (labourers) 47: to
provide prayer-books, 18 ; bibles,
185; communion-table, 193: re-
gister of births, &c., iS6.
— church, articles to be read in,
65 : overseers to meet in, 97 :
bibles, &c., to be placed in, 185 :
to be purged of shrines, &c., 186.
Pai'ker, Abp. of Cant., his conver-
sation with P. Wentworth, 121 :
his Advertisements, 191 : sup-
presses exercises, 204 : his homage,
243 : on High Commission, 169,
194, 227, 232, 235 : letter to, 441.
Parliament, its sovereignty — (re-
ligion) 12, 290, 370; (succession)
59; (legislation) 124, 341 ; (tax-
ation) 176, 347, 352, 411; (in
general) 178, 289, 352: subordi-
nation to the crown argued, 400,
409, 436: privileges of, 117-133,
254. 255, 287-293, 310-316, 320-
339- jurisdiction of, 131 -133,
334-339 : privacy of debate in,
133: petitions of, 109: addresses
of» 317) 3'8, 319; procedure in,
179 : «ee aim Lords, Commons.
Patents, Letters, discussed, ill-
115. 333: regulated, 276.
Patronage, taken from Romanists,
266.
Peace, Justices of, «ee Justices :
clerk of the, 257 : breach of, 145,
148, 167, 375.
Peculiars (ecclesiastical districts,
exempt from ordinary ecclesi-
astical jurisdiction), 430.
Peers, trial of, by their peers, re-
served by statute, 12, 19, 25, 60,
63, 260 ; in IJ. of Norfolk's case,
1 39 : exempted from oath of su-
premacy, 41 : sons of, eligible to
H. of Commons, 131 : to take
oath of allegiance, 262 : members
of Magnum Concilium, 403 : see
aim Barons, Lords.
Penance, commutation of, 201, 210.
Penry, John, 225.
Perjury, in regard of benefit of
clergy, 74 : to be tried in Star-
Chamber and similar courts, 150,
'52, 374>382.
Peterborough, exercises in, 202.
Philizers (or Filizers, officers who
file the writs in the Common
Pleas), 40.
Pilgrimages, forbidden, 185, 186.
Pillory, penalty for seditious words,
77 (2), 337: inflicted by Star-
Chamber, &c., 181, 368, 403.
Pirates, goods of, 388.
Pius V, Pope, his ISulI, 195.
Players, theatrical, 69, 253.
Pluralities, to be reformed, 2 to,
416 : regulations touching, 202,
222 : complained of, 218, 285,
301, 414.
Poaching, forbidden, 381.
Pole, Cardinal, schools founded by,
36, 233.
Pontifical, the (order of consecra-
tion), 198.
Poor, statutes concerning, 41, 69,
72, 96, 103: fines payable to re-
lief of, 17, 76, 237, 261 : see
Justices of Peace.
Index.
459
Poor-rate, arbitrary, 43 : fixed, 70,
96, 99, 104: appeal against, 98.
Portals (? = portuise, q-v.), to be de-
stroyed, 267.
Ports, free entry through, 350.
— , Cinque, exempted from subsidy,
36 ; not from feudal aids, 356 :
marti-ii law in, 398.
Portuise (O. F. porthors = porti-
forium or breviary, q. v.), prayer-
book culled from, 198.
Praemunire, penalty of (the penalty
of outlawry and forfeiture inflicted
under the stat. 16 R. II. 5), for
impugning eccl. supremacy, &c.,
10, II, 12, 39, 41, 61, 62, 63;
denying the Queen's title, 60 ; re-
fusing oath of allegiance, 259,
262, 274 : inflicted by High Com-
mission, 304 (2).
Prayer-book, of Edward VI, to be
kept, 13, with alterations, 14.
— , of Elizabeth, to be used, 14-16,
i88, 208, 212, 375: to be pro-
vided in parishes, 18 : condemned
by Puritans, 198: orthodoxy of,
212, 445 : strict observance of, ob-
jected to, 217.
Preachers, regulations for, 65, 185,
192, 193, 200, 201, 422: more
liberty demanded for, 217: ne-
cessity of, 414, 416.
Prebendaries, taxation of, 54, 162,
360: vestments of, 193.
Predestination, doctrine of, adopted,
2 26 : not to be generally preached
on, 423.
Pre-emption, royal right of, 299 :
cf. Purveyance.
Premier seisin (first possession : the
King's right to the first year's
profits of any estate of which a
tenant-in-chief dies seised), to be
abolished, 296.
Prerogative, tlie, of the crown : in
general, 174, 179, 391,409,410,
412, 436-43S : legislative, 120,
411: judicial, 153, 181: eccle-
siastical, 225, 240, 290, 418, 425:
dispensing, I II, 112, 113: feudal,
292 : taxative, 340-342 : Bracton
on, 115,409: Blackstone on, 410:
Q. Elizabeth on, 116, 125: James I
on, 293, 294, 310, 312, 313,
315. 316, 399, 400, 423: Judges
on, 340-342: growth of, 289:
penalty for attacking, 119: limi-
tations of, 290, 297 (2), 342-353,
409 (note).
Prerogative -court, of the Arch-
bishop, 199, 412.
— of the Pope, 199.
Presbyterians, 197, 246, 247, 435.
Presentment (a statement made
by the grand jury, being usually
a charge of an offence), 39, 41,
425: of recusants, 257, 274, 364.
Piesident, Lord, of the Council ;
duties in taxation, 31, 34: powtr
of committal, 114: in Star-
Chamber, 175, 403.
Press, Censorship of, 168-172, 188,
189, 394, 396, 427, 428 : see also
Books.
Primers (Popish books of devotion
containing prayers and religious
instruction), to be destroyed,
267.
Printers, Queen's, exemptions for,
171, 172 : see Press.
Prisage (the King's right to take a
portion of the wine loaded on a
ship), certainty of, 349.
Privileges, jiarliamentary, see Par-
liament, &c.
Privy Seal, Lord, his duties in tax-
ation, 31, 34: in Star-Chamber,
175, 403 : other duties, 273, 356:
see also Seal.
Processions (religious), forbidden,
186.
Proclamations, abuses of, 305, 306 :
see also Elizabeth, James I.
Proctors or Procurators (those who
manage* another man's cause in
an ecclesiastical court or collect
the fruits of a benefice for an-
other), pretended, 69.
Prophesyiiigs, see Exercises.
Protonotaries (chief clerks of the
King's Bench and Common Pleas),
40.
Provost-marshal (an officer to exe-
cute martial law), 155, 444.
Puritans, general descriptions of,
194, 283, 291 : name first used,
195: their views, 196-199: de-
mands, 191, 219, 413, 420,421:
460
Index.
i^ee aho Independents, Presby-
terians, Sectaries.
Purveyance (the King's right of
buying goods at a valuation,
and of impressing carriages, &c.,
without consent of the owner),
340: bill against, quashed, 124:
to be abolished, 298, 299 : regu-
lated, 385.
Quarter Sessions, see Justices.
Quo warranto, enquiry by, 112.
Kaleigh, Sir Walter, his monopoly,
113: Vice-Admiral, 165: his
view of the prerogative, 409.
Ransom, carrying off persons for
the sake of, 105.
Kape (crime), 74, 3S0 : (division of
a shire), 29, 70.
Rebellion, stirred up by Roman-
ists, 61 : provided against, 81,
154, 362; martial law used in,
155, 179: proclamation of, 183,
372, 373-
Recognisances, (bonds or obligations
for debts, appearance in court,
good behaviour, &c.), 43, 231,
304, 428, &c.
Record, Courts of (com*ts whose
records caunot be disputed), at
Westminster, 81, 82 : see also
H. of Commons.
Recorder, of London (a legal o£Bcer
appointed by the Mayor and Cor-
poration who delivers judgement
in their courts, records the cus-
toms of the city, &c.), 129.
Recusants, Popish (properly, those
who refuse to go to church, also
used of any Papists), defined, 92 :
penalties on, 17, 75, 76, 88, 89-
93, 253, 256-261, 274: disabilities
of, 6, 8, 40, 264-267, 274: mea-
sures for discovery of, 92, 228,
256, 3^14 : not to go five miles
from home, 93, 264, nor abroad
without licence, 260, 309 : ban-
ished from the realm, 93, from
London and court, 263: marriages
of, 265 : education of, 266, 267,
309, 427 : lands of, 266, 267, 309:
disarmed, 268, 319: patronage of,
266: increase of, 307, 308: action
against, demanded, 300, 309, 319,
320: indulgence to, 422: pun-
ished by High Commission, 228,
427.
Regarila (rewards), 143.
Register, of poor 42 (2), 7° • of
recusants, 256 : of births, &c.,
185.
Regraters (persons who buy and
Sell in the same market), for-
bidden, 145, 146, 148.
Relics, Popish, to be destroyed,
431-
Reliefs (sums payable by incoming
feudal tenants), to be abolished,
296.
Requests, Master of the [Court of],
168.
Residence, on benefices, enjoined,
202, 223, 226: non-residence
complained of, 218, 219, 301,
414 : fined, 186.
Retaining (retentio ; keeping per-
sons as retainers), forbidden, 362,
377. 386.
Returns, of elections, to be made to
Chancery, 281 : right of examin-
ing, 130", 131, 287, 288, 325-333-
Revenue of the crown, legislation
about, prohibited, 124: limited
by common law, 344, 346 ; see
aho Customs, Feudal rights. Sub-
sidy, &c.
Riding (division of a shire), 31,
69.
Right, Divine, of succession, 21,
250 : in general, 436-439.
Riots, punishable by Lord Lieu-
tenant, 155: Justices of Peace,
179; Star-Chamber, 167, 180;
Privy Council, 368 ; other courts,
150, 152. 362, 368, 375. 381-
Rites and Ceremonies, uniformity
of, 13-20, 194, 445 : bills on, for-
bidden, 120, 121, 125, 126: im-
portance of, 246, 291, 413 : see
aho Uniformity, Injunctions, &c.
Robberj', hue and cry for, 86 : how
punished, 57, 105, 179, 380.
Rogues and Vagabonds, definition
of, 69, 98,99, loi, 272: statutes
about, confirmed, 42, 253 : to be
Index.
461
branded, 67, 254 ; whipped, loi ;
transported, 102 : workhouses for,
71, 73, loi, 271 : search for,
272 : under supervision of J.P.'s,
144, 145, 146, 179, and of High
Commission, 229.
Rolls, Master of the (an assistant
to the Lord Chancellor, judge in
Chancery, and Keeper of the re-
cords), 82, 129, 2S0.
Romanists, see Recusants.
Rosaries (books of prayers to the
Virgin), to be destroyed, 267.
Routs, see Riots.
Sacraments, see Baptism, Com-
munion.
Sailors, discharged, provision for,
100, 102 : pretended, 69, loi :
jurisdiction over, 390.
Salt, monopoly of, 112, 114, 115.
Sanctuary, privilege of, curtailed,
66, 78 (2), 106 ; abolished, 278.
Sanders, Nicolas, 194.
Sandys, Sir Edward, imprisoned,
310.
Scholars, not to beg without licence,
69, 1 01 : exempted from labour-
laws, 47.
Schoolmasters, to take oath of
^ supremacy, 40 : exempted from
taxation, 36 : not to be recusants,
76.
Schools, exempted from taxation,
23, 36 (2) : statutes for, 36, 233,
433 : books used in, free from
censorship, 189: to be erected,
416 : Popish, 427, 431.
Sclopettarii (originally slingers ;
hence gunners or musketeers),
157-
Scutage, see Escuage.
Seal, Great, commissions, warrants,
&c., issued under, 20, 31, 81, 174,
355,.4i9-
— , Privy, loans demanded under,
135, 136: Lord P. S., see Privy
Seal.
Secretary, the, his duties in general,
166: Principal — , his duties,
159, 262, 266, 273: two — men-
tioned, 160, 210; one, 334.
Secta (cut or fashion), 145: of.
Liberata.
Sectaries, repressed, 89, 211, 427.
Seminaries (Romanist schools), 84,
85. 427, 431-
Seminary priests, penalties on, 83-
86, 93, 262 : statutes against,
confirmed, 253: to be dealt with
l)y High Commission, 426, 427 :
repression of, demanded, 300, 319.
Sequestration (the temporary witii-
holding of the profits of a benefice) ,
19.
Serjeant, of H. of Commons, 128,
^ 129, 132, 321, 322, 325, 332.
Serjeanty, grand and petty (a tenure
by special service to the crown),
295-
Sermons, regulations for, 184, 423 :
necessity of, 207, 414: see al&o
Preachers.
Servants, see Labourers.
Sheriffs, to take oath of supremacy,
40: their duties (labourers), 48,
49; (vagabonds), 69; (empanelling
of jurors), 147, 150, 357, 362:
(distraint of knighthood), 133:
(pari, elections), 281, 325, 3V9,
33I1 332, 333, 442: punishable
by J.P.'s, 146, 148.
Shire, an administrative district
(taxation), 27, 31,32,134; (poor),
73» 97. 99, 100 : (labourers), 47.
Shirley, Sir Thomas, his case, 289,
290, 320-325.
Shrines, to be destroyed, 186.
Sidesmen (assistants to the church-
wardens), 364.
Signet (the seal in possession of the
Secretary), 159, 419.
Simony, punished, 187, 407, 426 :
oath to be taken about, 216.
Slander, in parliament, 131 :
punished by High Commission,
228, 407.
Socage, tenure in, 295, 355, 356, 357.
Soldiers, discharged, provision for,
100, 102.
Sovereignty, 351, 352 : cf. Preroga-
tive.
Spanish Matcli, the, 278, 308, 310,
312, 317, 318.
Speaker, of H. of Commons, nomi-
nated by the crown, 178 : his
demand for privileges, 117 :
powers in the House, 124: rela-
462
Index.
tions with the crown, 115, 116,
118(2), 120, 125(2), 126, 326,
330 (2): issues warrants, 132,
279, 320, 332, 333 : delivers
judgement, 323, 337 : demands
judgement, 336.
Speech, freedom of, 117, 11 8-1 26,
288, 289, 296, 297, 310-316.
Star-Chamber, Mary, Q. of Scots,
tried in, 142 : model for Castle-
Chamber, 152, 153 : cases referred
to, 167, 374: ordinances of, i''>8,
169, 394 : High Commission com-
pared with, 214: juries reproved
hy, 180: descriptions of, Camden,
175 ; Smith, 180; Lanibard, 181 ;
Crompton, 182; Coke, 401 ;
Bacon, 408: ^ee also Council.
Stationers' Company, their authority
over printer.s, 168, 170(2), 171,
172. 394- 39^'-
Stellionate (cozening or fraud), 408.
Steward, Lord High, 139: of the
Household. 30, 41 : of franchises,
&o., 145, 146, 148.
Stocks, confinement in, 49, 71, 101.
Submission, form of, 91.
Subpoena (a writ ordering one to
appear in a court, under a penalty
for non-appearance), 182 : parlia-
mentary exemption from, 129.
Subsidy, defined, 175: conditional
offer of, 318 : why granted, 41 1 :
King's right to take, 409, 439 :
acts of (lay), 27, 106, 278
(clerical), 54 : — men (persons
taxed for subsidy), 96, 104.
Succession to the crown, determined
by statute, 21, 82, 83, 250: de-
terminable by parliament and
common law, 59 : petition about,
107 : not to be discussed in
parliament, 118.
Svipply, appropriation of, 278-2S0,
318-32.';.
Supremacy, ecclesiastical, defined,
189, 412 : acts establishing, i,
39, 89: to be preached, 184:
impugned, 223, 225: defended,
246: exercise of, 183, 1S4, 190,
205, 208, 209,210, 221,227, 242,
417, 420, 422, 424.
— , act of, referred to, 38, 40, 76,
i89> 303. 404. 405? 425-
Supremacy, oath of, 7 : to be ad-
ministered, 7, 8, 38, 40 (3), 41 , 85
(2), 235. 236, 239, 326, 387, 433 :
penalty for refusing, relaxed, 422.
Surplice, to be used, 193 (3) : ac-
cepted by Puritans, 191 : not to
be enforced, 286, 414.
Suspension (of ministers) for non-
conformity, 217, 286 : regulated,
416.
Synods, episcopal, 19,220: Puritan,
220 (4), 221, 248, 249.
Taxation, »ee Subsid}', Benevolence,
Prerogative, &c.
Tenths, clerical, 22, 30, 55 : lay,
see Fifteenths.
Thornborough, John, Bp. of Bristol,
his book, 289, 290.
Tlirogmorton, Job, 225.
Tillage, see HusbanHry.
Tithes, taxed fir poor-rate, 104.
Tithing-men (originally heads of
tithings, later petty constables),
70. 254. 272.
Title, to the crown, see Succession:
assumed by James 1, 393 : clerical,
200.
Tonnage and Poundage, 26, 27 : see
also Customs.
Tower of London (special prison
for parliamentary offenders), 124,
127, 130, 280, 321.
Town-clerk, 257, 264.
Town Corporate, see Borough.
Traverse (the denial of some matter
of fact alleged in pleadings), not
allowed before High Commis-
sion, 304.
Treason, High, general definitions
of, 23-25, 57-60 : particular
(supremacy"!, 11, 12,41, 75, 260;
(bulls, &c.), 60-63 ; (rebellion,
&c.), 65-67 ; (Jesuits), 84, 85 :
on the borders, 270: Mary, Q.
of Scots, tried for, 141 : not tried
before J.P.'s, 76 ; before Councils
of North and Wales, 370, 375,
380: James I on, 312 : two wit-
nesses required, 25.
— , Petty (the killing of any one to
whom the murderer owes special
obedience, as of a master by a
servant), 380.
Index.
463
Treason, misprision (neglect or con-
cealment) of, 25 (2), 62, 67, 75 :
J.P.'s not to try, 76.
Treasure-trove, 388.
Treasurer, Lord Hi^^h, his duties,
(taxation), 30, 34, 55, 358 ; (vaga-
bonds). 102 ; (recusants), 262 ; in
Star-Chamber, 175, 180, 182, 403.
— , Under (or Chancellor of Ex-
chequer), 55, 356.
— , of alms, &c., 100, 104: of the
Navy, 165 : of subsidies, 279.
Udall, Nicolas, 225, 442.
Undertakers (persons who under-
tooli to plant lands in Ireland
forfeited by rebels), 166.
Uniformity, Act of, 13; referred to,
208, 257, 260 : enjoined, 183,
184, 191, 211 : relaxation in
details, the best way to, 291 : in
doctrine, demanded by Puritans,
414: see also High Commission,
Ministers, &c.
Union, of England and Scotland,
250-252, 268-270, 282, 290, 392.
Universities, meml)ers of, to take
oath of supremacy, 9, 40 : ex-
empted from subsidy, 23, 36 :
taxed for benevolences, 137, and
aids, 356 : testimonials for ordi-
nation, 65 : licence to beg, 6q :
degree in, as qualification for
ministry, 193, 200, 216, 285 :
presses in, 170, 172 : books used
in, 189: members of, gentlemen,
177 : exhibitions in, 186 : patron-
age given to, 266, 267.
— Chancellors and Vice-Chan-
cellors of, power to administer
oaths, 9 : censorship of press,
188, 395.
Usher, (jlentleman (officer in H.
of Lords), 128.
Usury, punished by High Commis-
sion, 407.
Vadia (wages), 143.
Vagabonds, see Rogues.
Valuation, ecclesiastical, 55.
Vestments, regulated, 19, 188, 193,
194, 201,212: Puritan objections
to, 191, 199, 247, 414: see also
Cap, Cope, burplice.
Vicecomites (sheriffs), 143, &c.
Villains, emancipated, 173: few
left, 178.
Visitation, ecclesiastical, 19, 201,
220, 364.
Visitors, the Queen's, 185 : of col-
leges, 188.
Vitellarii (victuallers), 146.
Wages, how regulated, 45, 48, 49.
Waifs (goods stolen and dropt by
the thief), 388.
Wales, exemption for weavers in,
52 : power of tiie crown to legis-
late for, abolished, 277 : schools,
&c., to be planted in, 416 : eccl.
commission for, 241.
— , President and Council of, in-
structions for, 378 : Secretary to
take note of, 166: powers of,
objected to, 307 : severity of, 377.
Walsingham, Sir Francis, 141, 237.
Wapentakes, 29, 70.
War, no excuse for unparliamentary
taxes, 346: council of, 279, 280,
396.
Wardship (the right to administer
the lands of a feudal tenant,
being a minor), 179: negotiations
for abolition of, 291, 292, 295,
296 : value of, 345.
Warrens, poaching in, 381.
Weights and Measures, under con-
trol of J.P.'s, 145, 146, 148.
Went worth, Paul, 118; Peter, 120,
123.
Westminster Hall, trial of D. of
Norfolk in, 138.
Westmoreland, exemption for weav-
ers in, 52 : see also North Parts.
Whipping, penalty on runaway ser-
vants, 47 : vagabonds, 68, 101 :
poor refusing to work, 71 : in
Star-Chamber, 403.
Whitehall, Council sitting in, 408.
Whitgift, John, Abp. of Cant., on
commission to try Mary Q. of
Scots, 141: a J. P., 147: his
Articles, 211 : views on doctrine,
226 : severity towards Puritans,
210, 213, 214: on High Com-
mission, 240.
Winchester College, exempted from
subsidy, 36.
464
Index.
Wight, Isle of, regarded as a sepa-
rate county, 31.
Wines, tax on, 25, 26.
Witchcraft, 78, 148.
Witnesses, two required, 12, 13, 25,
60, 68, 80.
Wolsey, Cardinal, his influence on
Star-Chamber, 180.
Workhouses, 102, 103; see also
Correction, houses of.
Wreck, in jurisdiction of the
Admiralty, 390.
W'rits, all made in King's name, 1 79.
Yeomen, what they are, 177.
York, province of, subsidy granted
separately by, 56.
— , Abp. of, on Council of North,
365, 370 : censor of the press,
185, 188, 395.
— , county of, under Council of
North, 374.
— , city of, meeting-place of C. of
North, 367, 368.
Zeeland, sectarian books published
in, 211.
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